A Scarred Child
by TheMadLiddell
Summary: "It's a kid…" The small figure's eyes snapped to the one who threw it, before going back to watching both men. The leader slowly approached, but stopped when he saw the figure stiffen considerably, looking like it was about to bolt. Couching down low, he beckoned the child to him. WARNING: child OC, Merle's lovely language, and the Governor's twisted thoughts
1. Day One

Author's note: Just to get it out of the way. I don't, and will sadly never, own The Walking Dead. Alright, now that that's done, this story was just an idea that popped into my head. I don't know where it came from; I suddenly wanted to write about an OC covered in scars and voilà! I hope you like it and tell me what you think.

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A small figure watched as a group exited their vehicles, out of sight in an upper level apartment. The figure didn't make a sound as it watched them through the window, silently studying their actions. It counted a group of ten men, all big, heavily armed, and ready to fire their weapons. Narrowing its eyes, the figure pinpointed the leader of the small caravan to be the dark haired, pretty boy in front. He seemed to be ordering a scavenging of the area, which made the figure frown and look around its temporary shelter. The figure had come to the area a week ago and scavenged all the stores that weren't overrun, which amounted to very little success. The figure made a little base in a small, one bedroom apartment overlooking everything on the front side of the building. A building three of the men started to enter, the leader included.

Not wasting anytime, the figure crawled into its pre-established hiding spot under the window seat ledge. Once it was nestled comfortably in the spot, the figure moved the wooden plane back in front of the opening, sealing itself in as best it could. The figure already had its supplies strategically hidden since it first set up base. It was smart enough to store all of its supplies in unusual places while leaving the place looking like it was looted already and unlived it. The cabinets and refrigerator were wide open, displaying thick layers of dust and empty shelves, same with the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. The bathroom was empty of soaps, toiletries, and towels. The closets and dressers were empty of cloths. There weren't even any blankets or pillows in sight in the bedroom. All the figure had to do was hide until it got a feel of how the men were, or until they left. All it had to do was sit quietly and wait. And it did for about forty minutes before voices could be heard in the hallway.

"Merle, you and I will check the rooms on right, and Martinez, you do the ones on the left." The small figure listened as the men started searching the rooms. It waited for the men to search her base. It wouldn't take long. From the sounds, the figure judged one to be the impatient type and do the more obvious and upfront places, while the other checked the rest. And the figure was right. The two men were soon in its shelter, bags of freshly looted supplies over their shoulders.

The figure measured the two up. The leader had soft looking neat, brown hair, a strong build, and was wearing a vest over a clean button up shirt. To the figure, he looked too normal, too untouched by the new world. Then it got a glimpse of his eyes and noticed there was an odd look to them. A chill suddenly ran down the figures spine and the man's demeanor unnerved the figure incredibly. Quickly averting its eyes off the leader, the figure studied the other man. This one intrigued it. He looked like the polar opposite of the leader. He was completely scruffy and looked like the stereotypical apocalypse survivor. With his buzzed head, tank like build, and sweat stained shirt. What really caught the figure's attention was the bladed hand prostatic. The figure was forced out of its examining when the leader spoke.

"Hey, does something about this room seem off?" The gruff man looked at his leader confused.

"Wha' da ya mean 'off'? Looks like every other room in this buildin' ta me." He looked around to try to see what his leader was talking about.

"It does, except for one aspect. There's nothing in here." The figure and the gruff man scrunched their brows in confusion. The leader sighed. "Think about it. All the other rooms at least had something; a can of food, a bottle of pills, a lone shirt, but this room looks completely empty. Not to mention it seems like that fact is being advertised." The figure froze, realizing it did too good of a job making its shelter look looted. Both men narrowed their eyes and readied their weapons.

"Wha' you suggestin'?"

"That someone is here. Don't you feel like you're being watched right now?" The second man nodded at his leader's words. They started to look around the room more carefully, but when they were just about to give something caught the second man's eye. The wood panel under the window seat was slanted. It was barely even off center, but it was enough for the man to notice. He made to look like he was going to research the closet, a blind spot of anything under the window seat. The figure stiffened, before relaxing slightly when it thought it was overlooked. Only to jump and press itself against the wall when the wooden panel was violently ripped off.

A large hand tightly gripped its arm and threw the figure into the center of the room. After the figure harshly landed on its front, it flipped over and quickly crawled away from the men, never taking its eyes off the two or making a sound. The hoodie and scarf hid the figure's physical features from the two men, but they were still surprised at what they did see.

"It's a kid…" The small figure's eyes snapped to the one who threw it, before going back to watching both men. The leader slowly approached, but stopped when he saw the figure stiffen considerably, looking like it was about to bolt. Crouching down low, he beckoned the child to him.

"Come on, we're not going to hurt you." He reached his hand out. "It's safe." The child didn't move, not trusting the man. "Can you tell us your name?" The child didn't say anything. "Everyone calls me the Governor, the guy over there is Merle." The child didn't reply. "Do you have a group? Are they close by? My men and I could take you to them." The Governor's questions were again met with silence. The child could see the man getting, but was too scared to do anything.

"Dammit!" The Governor's and the kid's eyes snapped to Merle. "Quit the damn silence and answer his fuckin' questions already!" The child tilted its head at the man. For some reason, the man's harsh tone was a calming to the child. So the slowly un-tensing child reached for its scarf and pulled it off. Both men were confused before they saw what it hid, a long jagged scar going from one side of the child's throat to the other. Then the child opened its mouth and the only sounds that came out were quiet, barely audible, airy croaks. The child continued to stare at the man, and he back.

"You're mute." It was more of a statement, but the child stiffly nodded to the Governor's question, unnerved by his presence in general. "If I ask you yes or no questions, will you answer them by nodding or shaking your head?" The child thought about that for a second before shrugging its shoulders. "Okay then, can you remove your hood? I'd like to see who I'm talking to." The child shook its head and pulled the hood's strings to tighten it, further hiding its face. The man chuckled, all signs of earlier annoyance replaced with amusement and curiosity. "Alright then, do you know when your group is returning?" The child tilted its head, unsure how to answer. The man raised a brow. "What's the matter? You have a group, don't you?" The child shook its head and the men's eyes widen at the answer to his question. He honestly said it as a joke of sorts to get the child to open up. "You're alone?" The child nodded. "How could you have possibly survived?" The child knew the question wasn't directed to it, so it just shrugged. The three sat there in silence, two not knowing what to say and the third not capable of saying anything.

"Governor, did you and Merle find anything? I'm finished with my rooms so…" The third man stopped mid-sentence in the open doorway, staring at the small child. His words apparently broke whatever trance was on the two other men.

"As you can see, we found something very interesting. Go tell everyone to hurry up and grab everything they can, we're heading back soon. Oh, and find a pen and notepad." The third man was still silently staring at the child, who started to stand up. "Martinez!" The man snapped to attention and hurried off to complete his order. The Governor let out an annoyed sigh and turned to the child, seeing it having a silent staring contest with Merle. Clearing his throat to get the child's attention, the Governor said, "Since you don't have anyone, why not come back with us?" The child frowned. "We have plenty of room for you, and more children around your age for you to play with." The child's frown deepened at the prospect of more children, which confused the Governor.

"Listen kid," the heads of the other two people in the room snapped to Merle, "you're being offered a damn good deal; free food, shelter, and protection." The child tilted its head. "So you comin' or not?" The child looked down in thought, before holding its pointer finger up to the man, silently telling him to wait a minute.

While the two men stood, they watched the child start scurrying around the room. Crouching in front of the couch, it pulled out a messenger bag that had four rolls of duct tape, a few bottles of water, small boxes of juice powders, and a deck of cards in it,. Then it turned to reach under the coffee table, un-taping four sheathed hunting knives, ten protein bars, three Hershey bars, and a small flashlight from its underside, strapping one knife to its belt loop and stuffing everything else in the bag. After that, the child ran to the bookcase and un-taped a small gun, a small case of ammo, and a few things shiny wrapped Pop-Tarts from behind it, carefully placing the gun in the back of its dirty jeans and the ammo and Pop-Tarts in the bag. After scrunching its face up in thought, the child runs back to the couch and unzips the cushions, pulling out an extra set of folded cloths from each, stuffing those in the bag as well. Finally the child ran into the bedroom and pulled out every drawer in the dresser and un-taping all the little baggies of medicine with a piece of paper in each stating what they were, little baggies full of Band-Aids, and one full of small tubes of Neosporin from the outer back of each drawer. The child shoved the last bit of its supplies in the bag and secured it on its body. After the child checked everything off its mental check-list, it ran back to the gruff man and gave him a thumbs-up before picking up its scarf and stuffing that in the bag to.

"How the fuck didn't we find all that shit?!" The child just shrugged at Merle, trying not to smirk. The Governor chuckled, pleased that he didn't have to use force on the kid to get it to come with them and Merle's obvious annoyance.

"Well then, shall we go?" Merle grumbled while the child shrugged and stayed surprisingly close the more dangerous, and mean, looking man. "Then let's be on our way."

The three slowly made their way out of the building. It was a hot day in Georgia, and the sight of the dark, thick, blood stained hoodie the child was wearing just made it seem hotter to Merle. It was actually getting on his nerves, especially when he saw a layer of sweat on the part of the kid's face the hoodie didn't cover. He started twitching in annoyance when he saw the kid being affected by the heat, yet not going to remove its hoodie. When the kid started fanning itself and wiping away sweat, Merle had enough. Trying not to shout, he said, "If yer so damn hot, take of the fuckin' hoodie, ya dumbass!"

They all stopped, and before the Governor could reprimand Merle, the child started doing as Merle suggested and began taking off its hoodie. Unzipping the hoodie and pulling its arms out of the sleeves, the child stopped all movements when the hood was the only thing keeping it on. The hoodie still shielded the child's body, but it was still, technically, being worn. With his aggravation only bubbling, Merle quickly ripped the thing off the child, amazingly not disturbing the messenger bag.

Both adults' eyes widened when they saw the throat scar wasn't the only one the child had. There were scars covering the child's body; scars of all kinds could be seen. Everywhere the child's tank top didn't cover, an assortment of scars was visible. There were even two scars on the child's face. An extremely thin one that went from the left corner of the child's lips that got deeper the close it got to just under the child's ear, were it ended, that neither man noticed before, and another deep, jagged, curved line bordering under the right eye that was hidden by the hoodie. The scars that unnerved the men the most, however, were the ones around the child's wrists. Each wrist was encircled by a narrow, rough strip of white flesh.

The child stood quietly under the gaze of both men, fidgeting under the unwanted attention. It didn't take long for either man to come out of his stupor, but it was easy to see they were affected by the child's scars. Acting like he wasn't the least bit bothered, Merle threw the hoodie at the child and said, "Put that in yer damn bag." The child did as he said with little hesitation. After the initial shock of the sight of all the scars wore off, both men took a closer look at the child.

With the hoodie no longer obscuring their vision, they noted that the child was a young girl. And the more the Governor looked at the child, the more he felt his heart being tightly squeezed. She was skinny, had thin, matted, dirty, long brown hair, dirt and blood caked sun kissed skin, and bright blue eyes. But what chilled him, what made if entire body shudder, was the resemblance she had to his Penny. They had almost the same exact facial structure and everything. Aside from the scars, filth, and hair length, the child before him look just like his daughter before she was bitten. With a little food, the girl would loss her thin, sickly build and gain the healthy perfectly build his daughter had. While the Governor saw nothing but Penny, Merle kept seeing his brother in the girl.

He saw him in the way she carried herself, the way she silently observed everything around her, and the way she tensed when attention was focused on her. He saw in her tense muscle that the child was ready for something, anything to happen, just like with his brother. The only physical similarities were the blue eyes and dirty appearance. All her traits screamed Dixon. Merle suppressed a chuckle, remembering her reaction to when the Governor mentioned the other children at Woodbury to her. Dixons don't play well with others, and he had a feeling she didn't either. It amused Merle seeing a non-Dixon so Dixon like. He wondered just how scrappy the kid was; humorously he remembered that his brother was just a scrawny as her when he was a kid and look how he turned out.

"You gotta name?" The girl glanced at Merle and nodded. Looking around, she saw a dust covered car window. Scurrying over to the vehicle, she started using her finger to write on the glass. Merle and the Governor watched as each letter was completed.

'Louise' was clearly written on the glass. She turned to look at the men, waiting for their reactions. As she expected, and happily to noted, Merle scuffed and rolled his eyes.

"I ain't calling ya 'Louise'." The girl turned back around and whipped off the last three letters.

"You want to be called 'Lou'?" She stiffly nodded to the Governor's question. He was relieved that the girl's name was nothing like his daughter's, but the resemblance still affected him. Nodding, he and Merle led her to one of the truck and the two men loaded their bags into it. Lou kept hers and climbed onto the truck's hood and sat down. Flipping open her bag, she pulled a bottle of water and a pack of powdered juice out and mixed them together. After taking a sip, she glanced at Merle and held out the bottle, seeing him eyeing it.

"Now ain't that some sweet shit!" With a smirk like grin, Merle snatched the bottle out of her offering hand. With her hand still in the air, Lou gave Merle a blank stare as she watched him chug down the bottle of juice. Watching him smack his lips when he's done and throwing the now empty bottle over his shoulder, she lowers her hand and shakes her head. Before Merle could get mad and accuse her of looking down on him, or something similar, Lou reached in her bag and pulls out one of her Hershey bars. Breaking the melted chocolate in twos, she holds the bigger half out to Merle with a small smile. "You tryin' ta bullshit me, or somethin'?" The girl shakes her head and starts slowly eating her much smaller piece. Merle just snatched the offered candy and scarfed it down. The girl continued to smile at him as he sends her suspicious looks.

From the side of the truck, the Governor watched the two interacting. For some reason beyond his understanding, Lou seemed to favor Merle over him. The little girl favored the gruff man over him. The girl who looks like his daughter liked the crude redneck over him. His daughter liked Merle more than him. Quickly shaking his head, the Governor expelled that notion from his head. Lou wasn't his daughter, they just looked alike. He repeated that thought over and over in his head and looked away from the two.

Once again reaching in her bag, Lou went to pull her deck of cards from the front most pocket. She stopped partway and bit her lip and glanced at Merle, not sure is he would play a game with her. All she knew how to play was Go Fish, War, and Slap Jack, and something told her Merle wouldn't be interested in any of those. Well maybe Slap Jack, but she didn't want to risk him cheating by using his knife prosthetic. Taking a chance she pulled out the cards and held them out to the man. He scrunched up his brow and scowled.

"I ain't playin' no damn kiddy card games." Merle glared at Lou while she lowered the cards to her lap and stared at them sadly. She expected the response, but hoped for a different one. Releasing a dejected sigh, she went to put the cards away. She refused to cry over something so stupid. "Dammit all…" She glanced at a grumbling Merle as he rubbed his head in annoyance. "Shuffle the damn cards, I'm teachin' ya how ta play poker." Merle refused to acknowledge the ecstatic look that took over Lou's face as she eagerly did as he said him the deck. And that is how they spent the time waiting for the rest of the Governor's men; Merle teaching Lou how to play poker while the Governor disapprovingly watched.

When the remaining men did return to the cars half an hour later, they saw Merle cursing up a storm at the happily bouncing in place child, a handful of cards tossed around them. Directing their confused gazes at the now highly amused Governor, he nonchalantly said, "She beat Merle at poker…again."

"Fuck that! The little shit's cheatin'! Cheatin' I tell ya!"

"Merle, how could she cheat? You literally just taught her how to play and you're dealing."

"I don't know! She just is!" Lou just grinned at the man and pulled out another bar of chocolate, holding it out to Merle as a piece offering. Snatching the bar, he ripped it open and started eating it, silently licking the wounds to his pride. With a pleased smile, Lou jumped off the truck and started to pick up the cards.

The men were about to ignore the child, before they did a double take at her severely scarred body, some letting out silent gasps. Lou chose to ignore the looks when she glanced up at the sounds, instead giving the men a nervous wave. After that, she stood back up and straightened out her deck before putting them away, running back to Merle. Frankly, that confused them out of their shock. The child ran to big, mean, scary Merle, not the friendly looking Governor. They opted to ignore it to preserve their remaining sanity, going to load up the truck with their looted supplies. At that moment, Martinez walked to the Governor and gave him the notebook and pen he wanted.

"Don't know why you wanted these, but here you go." With a fake smile, the Governor took the items and made his way to Lou. Tensing at the sight of the eagerly approaching man, Lou shuffled closer to a still grumbling Merle. He just stared down at her annoyed and confused before he saw the Governor coming their way. He glanced back at the girl with narrowed eyes when she tightly grabbed his pant leg with shaking hands, not understanding any of her actions.

"Lou, these are for you." The Governor smiled charmingly at the girl, hoping to earn her trust. Lou slowly let go of Merle's pants and grasped the book and pen, quickly bringing them to her chest. "If you want to say anything, just write it in that book. That way you can talk to whoever you like." She took a peek at the Governor's smiling face, but wasn't swayed. Though, she did pretend to be happy and quickly flipped open the book and started writing. She stopped for a second and added something further up the page before showing it to the Governor.

_Day 1_

_Thank you very much!_

The Governor's smile widened. "You're very welcome. Now make sure you have everything together, we'll be heading out when everything's loaded up." Lou nodded with a smile on her face, though, unknown to the Governor, it was completely forced. "Oh I almost forgot, when we get back, and get you settled in, I'm going to have to ask you a few more questions, okay?" At Lou's weakening of smile, he quickly added, "Don't worry, it's just routine, we also have to make sure you're not a threat to the entire group," he chuckled, "Which I highly doubt." The girl just nodded her head in response. He nodded before standing straight and ordering everyone else around. Lou just stood to the side, out of everyone's way unless someone dropped something. Then she would quickly run over and pick it up for them, only to scurry away before anyone could even think to thank her. But the only one who even tried was Martinez, the rest barely acknowledged her. Once the supplies were all pack up, a problem arose.

"Uh Governor, where we stickin' the kid?" A man with a pot belly asked. "There ain't 'nough room in the trucks for 'er." Lou stiffened at the new fact. Quickly looking at the people already in the trucks, she found what the man said to be true. All the seats in the trucks were full, except the two for the Governor and the man with the big belly, and there was no room for her to squeeze between anyone. The Governor looked at her, deep in thought.

"There has to be somewhere we can put her…" She didn't want to be left behind because of this. She liked being around Merle too much. Then an idea hit her. Quickly looking back at the trucks, she saw Merle sitting with his door wide open, smoking a cigarette, and arguing with Martinez. Without thinking, she quickly ran to him and jumped onto his lap and started writing before she was even properly settled.

"THE FUCK?! Get yer fucking ass off me, you little—" before he could finish yelling, the notebook was shoved into his face.

_IM SORRY PLEASE LET ME SIT HERE_

_ALL THE OTHER SEATS ARE FULL_

He growled, "I don't care! Find someone else ta sit on!" She started writing again.

_BUT YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE I TRUST_

_PLEASE I DON'T WANT TO BE LEFT BEHIND_

_PLEASE_

No one else could see what Lou was writing, but they got curious seeing the shocked look cover the normally angry, or cocky, redneck's face. With a final growl, he said, "Ya ain't sittin' on my damn lap. Yer boney ass is diggin' inta my leg. If ya gonna try ta squeeze in here, get on the floor." Merle scowled seeing the grateful smile aimed at him and seeing the girl humble into a ball, hugging her bag, on the floor between his legs. She started writing again, though much calmer and slower this time. She showed it the aggravated redneck she just couldn't leave alone.

_Thanks Merle._

She gave him another small smile before setting the notebook down and resting her head on her bag, all while leaning against Merle's leg. He just growled and went to punch a sniggering Martinez in the face, but missed when the Spanish man leaned out of the way at the last second. It only made Merle start cursing like a sailor again, which Lou hummed happily at. Almost everyone else was highly amused by the whole ordeal, excluding the Governor.

In his mind, Lou should have run to him, not Merle. No one should run to Merle. Merle was the intimidation, the muscle, the tool, not the comfort. He should the father figure; he looked and acted the part in front of the girl, yet she goes running to the person all the children, and most adults, in Woodbury hide from. Once again the Governor was angry that the child chose Merle over him, who was right in front of her. He hid his rage behind a perfectly placed mask; briskly taking his seat in the same truck Merle and Lou were in. Though he couldn't see them, the Governor could hear Lou softly humming behind him and Merle cursing under his breath. As they started driving off, the Governor's mind kept focusing on a single topic.

He didn't like how comfortable the girl was around Merle. He knows he should be. He also knows that if it wasn't for her resemblance to Penny, he would be. But that isn't the case. Lou looks like Penny. Lou should like him because she looks like Penny. Lou should be like Penny. Similar thoughts kept circling around in his head, until he got an idea.

Lou was unnaturally comfortable around Merle. So he had to fix that. He had to show her exactly the man he knew Merle to be, and what better way to do that than to have the two of them live together for a while? He knew Merle will quickly lose his temper with the child and permanently scare her away. And that sooner or later Lou will come running to him, begging him to keep Merle away from her. All he had to do was wait and hope Merle didn't physically harm the girl. After all, how could she play with Penny if she's injured?

Looking out the window, now happily lost in thought, the Governor thought of all the games Lou and Penny could play together. He knew Penny would like Lou, and that Lou would like Penny. He could tell by looking at them they were made to be friends, and Lou seemed nice enough. Though she is a little rough around the edges it was nothing he and his daughter wouldn't be able to fix. He smiled at his crazy eyed reflection in the window, not once thinking of the now sleeping Lou being horrified of, or devoured by, his flesh eating, decomposing daughter.

They continued their ride to Woodbury in silence, with Lou, blissfully ignorant to the thoughts of the crazed man not two feet away from her.


	2. Welcome to Woodbury

Still don't own The Walking Dead, but I hope you enjoy my story!

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Merle did his best to ignore the child sleeping by his feet. He really did. He even bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from kicking when she snuggled his leg. Yeah, Merle Dixon doesn't snuggle. But even he could see the kid fidgeting restlessly in her sleep until she did it. So he manned up and kept his mouth shut. Glancing back at the sleeping child, Merle was confused. He had no clue what part of him the kid was drawn to. He wasn't some teddy bear. He wasn't sweet or cuddly. He was Merle, enough said. So, he asked himself, why did the kid trust him? Why did the kid look at him without the slightest bit of fear? He literally threw her across a room, yelled and cursed at her, and gave her the good old Dixon glare, but nothing. She still ran to him and crawled onto his lap. The only people who'd ever done that where drunken women, but those are completely different stories and scenarios, not little girls looking to him for help… Yeah, even in his head that came out wrong.

"Ey Merle," said man looked at the driver, "wake the kid up. We're almost there." Merle just grunted and started nudging his foot into the kid's back. The kid didn't react, so Merle nudged harder. When it seemed the kid was completely dead to the world, Merle got annoyed. Forgetting about being nice about the whole thing, he smacked the kid upside the head. That got her up.

Lou, startled, quickly looked around before clutching her now aching skull. Growling in her throat she glared at the culprit, but the pout took away from the affect. Smirking, Merle said, "Rise and shine! We're all most there." She just glared harder before pulling out her book and writing. When she was done she held it up for Merle to read.

_Did you have to hit me?_

"Tried bein' nice." He wasn't going to apologize. The smirk made that point clear.

_Well did you have to hit me so hard? My head really hurts now._

She rubbed the back of her head for emphasis. Merle just scuffed, "Don't be a pussy." Annoyed, Lou closed her book and gently wacked Merle in the stomach with it, before she started writing again. Contrary to the glare on Merle's face, he was highly amused. Lou was showing she actually did have some balls.

_I'm not being a pussy! You're just being mean!_

"So?" Lou just huffed and crossed her arms at Merle, choosing to glare at the car door rather than wasting paper arguing with him. Merle's barking laugher just further annoyed her.

"Don't let him get to ya, chica." Lou glared over her shoulder at Martinez. "Merle's just an ass." She frowned and started writing in her book. When she was done she showed it to Martinez.

_Don't be mean to Merle._

The guy between Merle and Martinez saw what she wrote was just as confused as the other man. He was a lot younger than the other two, and smaller. Scrunching up his face, he questioned the girl, "Why not? Merle can take some shit. He dishes out 'nough.

_Yeah but he's Merle._

They really had nothing to say to that. Merle was a Merle. He would do and say what he wants just because he could. And it seemed the kid already figured that much out and, for some strange reason, accepted it. They could see in her eyes she what she thought. Don't mess with Merle. So, with a shrug the guy just dropped the subject, but Martinez wanted to get one last comment in.

"I'm not apologizing." Lou just smile at him, before she started writing again.

_I didn't say you had to. But could you just pretend to be nice to him _

_in front of me? I know you're nice. You got me my book!_

"But I didn't—" She cut him off by putting her figure to her lips with wide, scared eyes, silently telling him to be quiet. She quickly looked between the seat she's crouched behind and Martinez, relieved the Governor was too lost in thought to listen to their conversation. Quickly she started writing again. When she was done she showed it to Martinez.

_I already know you GOT the book and the Governor just gave it_

_to me but I don't think he'd be happy if he knew I knew that. So please_

_shhhhhhhhhhh!_

It was easy to see how scared Lou was of the Governor by how messy her handwriting got when she wrote that. It was quick, scratchy, and barely legible, only one of the men in the back seat could make it out. Years of having to read doctor's note from back when he was a gym teacher finally paying off, Martinez nodded to the girl. He wanted to ask why she was so afraid, but, looking at the front seat, he decided to wait. He knew the Governor wasn't the nicest person in the world, but from what he witnessed, the Governor has been oddly kind to the Lou. Yet here she was cowering away from him, and into Merle of all people. Something just didn't add up.

Not to mention, something in the back of his head has been nagging at him since he saw the girl's face. He recognized her from somewhere, somewhere long before the apocalypse. But, for the life of him, he couldn't remember. She wasn't a kid from his neighborhood. He never saw her at any of his neighbors' barbeques. She wasn't related to any of the students he used to coach, at least not that he knew of. She was never physically introduced to him, but he remembers her face. He thinks he may have seen her on TV or in the paper a few times, but he wasn't sure. He just shook the thoughts from his head, knowing it will come to him eventually.

Settling back in his seat, Martinez looked out the window. Seeing the wall surrounding Woodbury coming into view, he relaxed a little. Finally something he was accustomed to. When the guards shot down the small accumulation of walkers and opened the gates for the trucks, he glanced at the kid and smiled. He watched as Lou climbed onto Merle's lap again, much to the redneck's annoyance, and looked out the window in amazed shock. He could see her reflection in the window, and was a little surprised to see traces of fear in her face. Shrugging his shoulders, he brushed it off. After all, how many fully functioning towns are left in the world?

The Governor flipped down his sun visor and looked in the mirror at Lou. He was pleased seeing her amazement at his town. Things would work in his favor, he just knew it. He just had to get her comfortable around him. He looked at Merle's scowling face as the man glared at the girl on his lap. The Governor smirked, all in good time.

"Lou," she looked towards the Governor, "welcome to Woodbury." She looked back out the window at the people milling about as if they weren't surrounded by flesh eating monsters. She didn't like this, but she was still fascinated by what she saw. She hasn't been around this many people in years, and none of them are like what she's used to either. They all smiling, carefree people…They were going to die, Lou just knew it.

The cars stopped in front of a large building. The second the truck was parked, Merle quickly opened the door and shoved the unsuspecting girls out. On pure instinct, she tucked in on herself and rolled a good few feet after hitting the ground. Sticking a crouched landing, she stuck her arms in front of her for balance.

"Girl's got reflexes, that's fer damn sure." She looked back to see the driver was the one who spoke. Not caring, she straightened herself up and readjusted her messenger bag. Satisfied, she walked over to a smirking Merle, picking her fallen notebook and pen up along the way. When she stopped in front of him, hands on her hips and an expectant look on her face, he just smirked wider.

"Wha'? Ya ain't hurt." She just stuck her tongue out at Merle, choosing to, again, not waste paper arguing with him. That only earned her a barking laugh, which she rolled her eyes at.

Everyone who witnessed the interaction thought they were hallucinating. Everything about the whole ordeal didn't make sense to them. Some even blinked owlishly. They felt it almost looked like a puppy happily prancing back to its abusive owner. The Governor wasn't pleased, but couldn't really say anything since Lou wasn't the least bit upset.

He wondered if she viewed Merle's actions as a game of sorts. To him, that'd make sense. Who knows how long she was alone or what she was exposed to. She's probably never seen someone like Merle, so she's curious. The effect he has on her will wear off in time.

"Welcome back, everyone!" They turned to see a dark haired woman leaving the building, approaching the group. "Did you find every—" She stopped mid-sentence once she spotted Lou. "Oh my, you poor thing, are you alright?!" The little girl flinched away from the woman, but it did little good. Soon she found herself with the strange woman grabbing her face and turning it, examining the girl, paying close attention to her scars. Frankly, Lou was very uncomfortable and looked to Merle with pleading eyes. She didn't like the attention and wanted the woman to LET GO.

Merle just cruelly chuckled. Yeah, Merle thought, she's just like Daryl. This scene right there reminded him of the time he and one of his dealers almost got caught by the guy's mother, way back when Merle was a teenager. Luckily, Daryl was there covered in bruises from the night before. The guy's mother was so busy fussing over Daryl that Merle was able to buy his fix before she caught on. Daryl looked at him with that same desperate, uncomfortable gaze, only to get laughed at for it latter.

Lou didn't like being laughed at, but she hated being scrutinized more. She tried to pull away from the woman's hands, but found herself tightly hugged against the woman's chest. Forget uncomfortable, Lou was getting annoyed.

"It's okay now, baby girl." The woman held her at arm's length. "You're safe now. The Governor won't let anything bad happen to you ever again." Lou returned the woman's wide smile with a blank stare, not believing her words. The girl flinched again when Governor placed a firm hand on her shoulder.

"That's right, Lou." He gave her a closed eye smile. "Just come to me if you have a problem. I'll take care of it." Something about those words sent a violent chill down her spine…She wanted Merle. Nodding her head to the Governor with a fake smile, she slowly pulled away from the two adults and backpedaled to Merle. Once she made contact with him, she tightly gripped his pant leg behind her back, so no one saw. She wasn't shaking, her eyes weren't wide open, and her jaw wasn't clenched, but Merle could see how tense the kid was, how terrified she became when the Governor touched her. His lip twitched downward, he knew that reaction. More flashbacks of his brother surfaced. Only this time, they were the ones that didn't make him laugh. Yeah, this girl was almost too much like his little brother for Merle's liking.

"Sweetie, why don't you come with me? We'll get you all cleaned up, and looking pretty in no time!" The woman reached a hand out for Lou to take. The girl just stared at the hand, not knowing what to do. When she felt Merle lightly, in Merle standards, knee her, she looked up to him. She sighed seeing him jerk his head in the woman's direction, silently telling Lou to "move her ass."

With a sigh, she walks over to the woman, but doesn't take her hand. Instead Lou chose to grip the strap of her messenger bag and nod to the woman. With a pitying smile, the woman led Lou into the building, up a couple flight of stairs, and to an unused apartment. During the walk, the woman introduced herself as Karen, but got no reply from the child. When they got to the room, Karen set a bath and told Lou to take her time while she left to get the girl new clothes. When the woman left, Lou locked the bathroom door before setting her messenger bag, clothes, and weapons by the tub. After getting in, she just sat there, hugging her knees and looking at the quickly browning water. Not once did she make a sound since leaving Merle's sight.

She didn't know how long she just sat there for, but shortly after Karen left, Lou heard the door to the apartment open and close quietly. The footsteps she heard were heavier than the woman's, but sounded like the person was trying not to be heard. The closer the steps got to the bathroom door, the more a sinking feeling settled in her stomach. Following her gut, Lou hid her gun under her clothes and pulled out one of her knives. She hid the sheath under her clothes as well and pulled the knife beneath the water's surface, concealing it under her thigh. Ready for the worst case scenario, she watched the door and waited. It didn't take long for the handle to start jiggling.

"Ya know, the Gov'rnor don't 'ppreciate locked doors." Lou heard a deep, masculine voice say. "So why don't cha be a good little girl and open the door?" She recognized that disgustingly sweet tone. She's heard it so many times that she knows what it means. She trembled at the painful memories. "Ya hear me in there, you little bitch?!" She gripped the knife tighter when the man banged on the door. She steeled herself. "Alright, have it yer way."

Lou knew he wasn't leaving when he walked away from the door. That fact was proven when the man returned and the lock clicked. She curled in on herself when the door opened, trying to cover her body. She saw who the man was when he threw a small key to the floor. She remembered him; he was the guy with the big belly from earlier. The look he had in his eyes as he examined her was predatory, and one she knew all too well. Gripping her knife as tight as possible, she quietly waited. Lou hoped he would just turn around and walk away, because she knew she could do it. She knew she could, and would, kill this man if didn't leave. She did it before.

"Ya know, we coulda left ya, right? We coulda taken all yer shit and left ya fer dead." He walked closer to the tub, closer to Lou. "But we didn't. So ya should do somthin' to repay our hospitality." Neither knew of the three men and woman heading towards the apartment. "Wouldn't ya agree sweet heart?" The man licked his lips, "Shame ya can't take, I love hearin' 'em beg." Not noticing the cold, detached look in the child's eyes, he brought his hand forward. When Lou saw his right hand starting to disappear under the water, and the left reaching for his belt, she attacked. The man screamed, clutching the long, deep gash traveling down his forearm, as he fell back. Lou crotched behind the rim of the tub, blood covered knife at the ready.

"THE FUCK?!" Merle was the first at the scene, shortly followed by the Governor, Martinez, and Karen. The look in Merle's eyes was complete and utter rage as he saw the man on the floor. Ignoring the blood and the man's injury, Merle grabbed the man by the collar and slammed him against the wall. "The HELL you doin' in here?"

The man gulped, before coming up with an excuse, "I-I thought I heard a crashin' sound! S-so I came ta see if the kid was al'ight! Then, out'a nowhere, she pulled a knife on me!" Merle growled. "I swear!" At a tapping sound, all eyes turned to Lou. Pulling her knife away from the outer wall of the tub, she held her arm straight out, using the knife as a pointed. Following its path, four murderous glares from Merle, the Governor, Martinez, and Karen were aimed at the now pale man. Lou pointed straight to the bulge in the front of the man's pants. Merle's knife prosthetic was at the man's throat in a second.

"Yer a dead man." The man knew he was done for by the tone of Merle's voice and the look in the Governor's eyes.

"Merle, take him out of here. Martinez, go with him." Both men knew where the Governor wanted them to take the man, and neither objected. One of the few things Merle and Martinez willingly agreed on was their views on rape. And they were going to show the man just what happens when you so much as tried to cross that line. Without looking back, Merle practically threw the man out of the bathroom and dragged him to Woodbury's secret prison/torture chamber, Martinez following closely behind. They knew from the Governor's look they weren't to kill him, yet.

After they left, Karen slowly approached the now dangerously, skittish girl, not risking scaring her. She grabbed a towel as she kneeled before Lou, who was now watching her like a hawk, and kept constant eye contact. Ever so slowly, the women reached for the no longer outstretched knife that was ready to be used. When Lou didn't so much as twitch, Karen placed her hand over the girl's scarred one, gently rubbing circles on it with her thumb. It took a while, but she eventually eased the bloody knife from the girl's grip and placed it beside the pile of clothes. Cautiously, Karen wrapped the towel around Lou's still dirty body and hugged the child, repeatedly telling her everything's going to be okay.

Lou was trembling, she was scared but she refused to cry. Crying never got her anything but more scars. It took all her self-control note to hurt Karen in her current state of mind. Karen was nice. She didn't want to hurt a nice person. Bad people, bad people she couldn't bring herself to care about them even if she tried. They hurt her far too many times for her to show them mercy. But they still scared her. They terrified her far more than the walking dead people. The bad people always did such painful and cruel things to her, the dead people just tried to eat her.

"Lou," she felt the Governor place his hand on her head, "you will never have to worry about anything like that happening again, I promise." She looked at the Governor. He scared her, but he was being nice. She would give him a chance. She just hoped it didn't come back to bite her later on.


	3. Mental States

Disclaimer: I don't, and will never, own The Walking Dead. If I did, Merle would still be alive and being an ass.

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As the Governor walked down the streets of Woodbury, no one could see the murderous rage burning behind his kind mask. He greeted everyone that approached him with a smile and a wave or gentle hand shake. On the inside, however, distorted images full of the bloody death of one man pelage his mind. The man that tried to harm Lou would pay. He made the Governor see something he didn't want to, how absolutely traumatized the girl was. Lou stayed in her survival state for almost an hour after the incident, and it was risky for anyone but Karen and the Governor to get too close to her during that time. A part of his mind wondered if Merle's presence would have helped the girl, but he threw that thought away with a growl. Merle, the Governor thought, would not be Lou's safety blanket.

Without being noticed, the Governor swiftly walked into the building that was over Woodbury's secret prison/torture chamber. From above, the building seemed perfectly normal, but behind the door at the end of the hall and down the stairs was a completely different story. The second he opened that door, the Governor heard the distinct sound of pained screams and fists meeting skin, a chuckle escaped his lips. It appears Merle and Martinez still weren't quite done with the man, even after an hour. Whistling, the Governor entered the staircase, closing the door and flicking the deadbolt lock behind him. In a sadistic glee, the Governor descended the stairs and approached the door a sickening crack and agonizing scream just emitted from. Wiping the pleased smile from his face, the Governor entered the chamber and surveyed the bloody, unrecognizable mess that was a man bond to a wooden chair. It appeared Merle and Martinez were just short of killing him. That wouldn't due, the Governor wanted that privilege.

"Merle, Martinez," both men with blood spattered faces and bruised knuckles turned at their names, "go get cleaned up. I'll take it from here." They nodded, but Merle couldn't resist sending one last kick to the bond man's chest, sending both the man and chair down, before leaving. The Governor waited until they were out of hearing range before he approached the sniveling heap.

"You know, Hector, I didn't take you as a crier." The man, now known as Hector, stared at the Governor in a fear filled rage.

"W-why?" The one word question was barely understandable due to the gurgling blood and now missing teeth.

"Why?" The Governor repeated the question with a hum. "Well you tried to rape—"

"BULLSHIT! YOU'VE DONE WORSE!" With a renewed vigor, Hector tried to launch himself at the Governor in anger, only to be held down by his binds. Glaring at the Governor, he seethed, "Don't ya act like yer some saint, boy! I've been with ya since the beginnin'!" The Governor glared at Hector. Spitting out blood, the beaten man continued with a humorless chuckle, "I know the things ya've done, I know. And wha' I was gonna do to that lil' girl would'a been kind in compar'son." The Governor violently kicked Hector in the side to get him to shut up.

"Well, since you were there at the beginning, tell me this. Who does Lou happen to look like?" Hector scrunched his swollen, bloody brow in confusion at the Governor's question. Then it hit him, and he laughed. He laughed in insanity at the Governor.

"Ya gotta be shittin' wit' me! Yer fuckin' sick!" Hector looked at the Governor with a cruel smirk, his current position forgotten. "Ya are worse than me. Ya couldn't pr'tected yer own kin, so ya's done gone and replace it." The Governor's sneered did nothing to stop Hector's words. "Tell me, she startin' ta stink yet, yer girl? Must be, rottin' away, chain in yer closet like some—" the Governor stomped his foot into Hector's mouth, cutting off his words and smashing in the rest of his teeth. The Governor didn't say anything. He just violently beat the man, breaking bone after bone. The Governor was so lost in his rage; he didn't hear the screams, the gurgled, slurred pleas. He didn't remember his reasons for being down there in his haze. He just wanted the man dead, to just never open his mouth again.

Penny was fine, he told himself. She's just sick. She's not dead. She's not dead. She's not dead! With a final stomp, the Governor, heavily breathing, looked down at the limp form. Hector had already been dead by the time he stopped. Grabbing the chair against the wall, the Governor sat down and waited.

"I'm not replacing Penny. Penny's fine." Hector's body started to twitch. "I never failed Penny." A groan came from the dead body. "Penny is fine." Hector's eyes opened, a look of pure hunger consuming them. "I didn't fail her." At the sound of the Governor's voice, Hector snapped his jaw and struggled against his binds. "Penny is alive, Karen's with her." The Governor got up and walked towards the reanimated corpse in a trance like state. "She just needs to readjust." With that, the Governor stomped his foot down, smashing Hector's skull in. "And you will never be able to get near her again."

There was a hazy look in the Governor's eyes as he smiled at the forever limp body. His brain never properly processed the words he just spoke never. He didn't even know he was speaking. A banging brought the Governor's attention to the door. He saw Merle walk in and let out a whistle, looking at Hector's body.

"Damn! And h're I was hopin' ta turn 'im inta biter chow." The Governor just started at the smirking redneck, his mind not fully grasping the situation. He watched Merle heavily walk towards the body and crouch next to it to get a better look. The only thing going through the Governor's head as he stared at Merle's back was that he was stealing Lou. Lou was to be his, not Merle's. But he wasn't insane enough to kill Merle. No, not yet, he told himself. Merle was still useful; he still had a purpose. Merle was the perfect tool, willing to do anything that earned him a little respect. But, he reminded himself, every tool eventually become useless. "So, wha' we gonna do with the body?"

When he didn't receive an answer, Merle looked back at the Governor. For a reason, unknown to him, Merle felt a cold chill run down his back when he looked in the Governor's eyes. He always knew what the Governor was capable of, he even helped with almost all of the more gruesome jobs, but that look unnerved Merle. Something about it just didn't sit right with him. He hadn't had that feeling since he was a teenager living with his father. That thought just angered Merle. Sneering at himself, Merle told himself to stop being a bitch and stand up like a man.

"Ya hear me, Governor?"

"Where's Martinez?"

Merle gave a grunt. "The spic went ta go check on the kid. Somethin' 'bout makin' sure she got what she needs, or somethin'." Merle cracked his neck, really not caring what Martinez was up to. He kind of toned him out right after the Governor told them to leave the room.

"I see." The Governor was alright with Martinez keeping an eye on Lou. She didn't like him like she liked Merle. So it was fine, for now. "And you didn't go with him?"

"Spent 'nough time 'round the taco bender, any longer and 'ld Merle might've beaten his face in," Merle said with a wicked smirk. Then he remembered the mess at their feet. "So, wha' we gonna do with 'im?" He off handedly motioned towards Hector's body as he asked.

The Governor hummed in thought, he originally planned to drag the whole torture thing out longer and feed Hector's still living body to the biters, but got carried away instead. With a shrug he said, "Cut him up, make him unrecognizable, the biters need food." They can't have anyone else in Woodbury find out what happened to the man, too much trouble. He'll just make some story up tomorrow. Walking to the door, the Governor rubbed his face in exhaustion, only to realize his hands where covered in blood. Growling he said, "Take care of that Merle. I have to go compose myself." With that he left, not waiting for a response. Letting out a curse, Merle went to get something to complete his task, getting more annoyed as the seconds past.

Lou, at the time, dunked her head underwater, rinsing out her third attempt at conditioning her hair. She had no idea it was so dirty, having grown so used to its greasy, matted feel. It was to the point she considered taking one of her knives and lopping it all off. Unfortunately for her, Karen took all her knives into the other room while she waited for the girl to finish her bath. The woman wasn't going to leave the girl alone again, worried about another repeat of what took place, but allowed the girl her privacy. Lou looked at the now brown, sudsy water and huffed. It was going to need to be drained and refilled. Getting out, wrapping herself in a towel, she peeked into the other room.

At the sound of the bathroom door creaking open, Karen looked up from her book. With a smile she marked her page and asked, "Are you finished?" Lou shook her head and waved the woman in. With a confused look on her face, Karen did as she was silently instructed. Once inside the room, she saw Lou point and followed her finger to the tub. With a look of realization, Karen gave a soft chuckle and pulled out the stopper. Looking back at the girl, she grimaced at the scar littered shoulders, arms, and legs the towel revealed. How someone could do that to a child, she didn't know. Trying to find anything else to look at, Karen noticed the rat's nest taking over the child's head.

"You want me to brush your hair while we wait for the bath to fill back up," Karen asked with a soft smile. Tilting her head, Lou was confused and didn't know how to reply. No one had ever brushed her hair before, at least not without ulterior motives, and was afraid to let the woman try. She knew Karen wouldn't do anything to her, but the brushing process would hurt. Lou could tell by all the knots her fingers got stuck on when she tried washing her long hair. Seeing the girl's hesitance, Karen tried to sway her, "I'll be as gentle as I can, sweetie. There's nothing to worry about." At the honest look in Karen's eyes, Lou gave in. With a sigh she sat on the toilet seat, waiting for her fate.

Seeing she's won, Karen puts the stopper back in the drain and starts running the water into the now empty tub. Straightening up, the woman quickly goes into the bedroom and gets the brush she saw on the dresser. Hurrying back to the girl, she takes her place behind her and starts to try and ease the numerous tangles out. She apologized every time the brush got caught and jerked the girls head back; but Karen had to stop herself from laughing at the adorably, angrily, red faced pout she received after each tug. She found it to be too cute, even with the two scars on the Lou's face.

Then came the mother of all knots, which refused to let the brush go. No matter what Karen did, the brush wouldn't come lose. If fact, it seemed to get more stuck the more she pulled. All the while, Lou was gritting her teeth, resisting the urge to smack Karen and rip the brush out herself; if her hair got ripped out in the process, so be it.

"Sorry, sorry," Karen sounded desperate for forgiveness. "I know this has to hurt, just give me a minute! I'll get it, promise!" She winched when she heard Lou take in a sharp breath of pain. So, for the girl's sake, Karen let go of the brush and tried detangling the knot by hand. It took a while, and she had to stop to turn off the running bath water, but she eventually freed the brush. She also pulled out a couple twigs and small leave that were stuck in the knot. "Finally!" Karen exclaimed, pleased with her accomplishment.

Lou let out a sigh of relief, thinking the torture was over. She flinched, however, when the brush returned to her head, but it eased though her hair much more smoothly this time, same with the time after, and so on. After all the small snags disappeared, Lou started relaxing at the sensation, which made Karen gently smile. The woman could literally see the tension leaving the girl's shoulders.

But a frown formed on her face when she noticed exactly how tense Lou was. In her mind, no child should be that stressed. It was then, when she lifted a long curtain of hair to brush, that she noticed the scars going from the nape of Lou's neck that disappeared under the towel line at her shoulder blades. They were stretched tightly over severely knotted muscles. The sight upset Karen immensely. Even though Lou was more relaxed than she was a few minutes ago, in actuality it was years, she was wound up tighter than anyone Karen's ever seen.

"Lou," the girl hummed at Karen's voice, "your hair's done, why don't you hop back into the bath." Lou looked over her shoulder and shrugged at Karen, who put on a fake smile as soon as she started talking. Lou wanted Karen to continue brushing her hair, it felt nice once the knots were gone, but she wasn't going to complain. She saw how forced the woman's smile was, and didn't want to inconvenience her. Standing up, the girl motioned Karen out of the room and shut the door behind the woman, flicking the lock when she did so. When she got back in the bath, she started washing her hair again. She was pleasantly surprised with how much easier the process was.

After Karen was locked out of the bathroom, she let a frown cover her face again. Her mind kept going back to Lou's scars and how tense the girl was. Different scenarios of how the girl got to such a state ran through her head, and each was worse than the last. When Karen first walked the girl to the apartment, she fooled herself into thinking Lou accepted whatever it was that happened to her and moved on, or just suppressed the memories. But, after seeing what happened with Hector and how stressed Lou was, she knew that wasn't the case. The urge to know what Lou went through was stronger than ever. She wanted to help her, but she couldn't unless she knew. Karen had to know what happened to Lou, but she was afraid. She was afraid to know, afraid that the truth would be worse than what she imagined, and afraid there was nothing she could do. She didn't know that was a topic where ignorance truly was bliss.

Karen saw the book she was previously reading, but didn't bother picking it up. She wouldn't be able to focus on the words anyway. It was then that Martinez walking into the apartment. He grew concerned when he saw the upset look on the woman's face, but she just waved it off. He didn't push. Needing something to do to distract her, Karen remembered she never got Lou a new set of clothes. The Governor, Merle, and Martinez cut her off before she had the chance and had her lead them to the apartment she left Lou in. Karen let out a sigh, realizing what may have happened to Lou if she hadn't run into them.

"Hey Martinez," the man looked at the woman, "could you wait here for a moment? Lou's still in the bath and I need to get her something to wear."

"She's not done yet," Martinez asked, disbelief coating his voice.

Karen chuckled, "Yeah, she had some serious hair trouble." He raised an eyebrow, but didn't question the woman. "Oh," Karen glanced at the bathroom door then back at the man, "what kind of clothes do you she likes? She doesn't seem like a dresses kind of girl to me."

Martinez gave her a blank look. Was she really asking him for fashion advice concerning a little girl, he questioned to himself. Scratching the back of his head in discomfort, he responded, "Probably anything to cover her scars." Karen gave him a confused look. "She was wearing a heavy hoodie and scarf when we found her. Why else would she wear them in this heat?"

"Ah, I get it. I'll see what I can find." Before she left, she walked to the bathroom door and knocked a couple times. "Lou, sweetie," said girl looked to the door, "I'm going to go get you something to wear for when you're done. But don't worry, Martinez is here. He'll protect you if anyone comes in to try something funny, okay?" Lou splashed some water to indicate that she heard Karen and went back to bathing, which she was finally almost done with. Releasing a sigh of relief, Karen nodded to Martinez and left the room.

Martinez sat down in a chair, by the small round table in the room, and just let his mind wander. There really wasn't much else for him to do. He was curious and concerned about the kid. From what he could tell, she didn't hesitate to slash Hector and she actually seemed ready to do it. He wasn't complaining, the man deserved it in his eyes. He was just worried about the girl's mental state. Her eyes were hard and ice cold as she looked at the bleeding pervert, as if she was ready to kill him if a came at her again. And how she pointed at Hector's crotch was a little unsettling, like she knew exactly what the bulge meant and what he was planning to do. Then it occurred to Martinez almost instantly. He realized Lou did know and, as sick as it felt thinking it, she had the scars to prove it. And her actions and the look in her eyes proved something else; she was fully prepared to kill Hector at any moment.

So lost in thought, Martinez never noticed when the bathroom door creak open. Once again rapped in a towel, Lou peeked out of the bathroom. This time, however, she had a hairbrush in one hand. She glanced at Martinez, wondering if he'd brush her hair for her. She noticed a few tangles popped up after she washed it and tried brushing them out herself, but it didn't feel as nice as when Karen did it. Lou was curious if it would feel relaxing if Martinez brushed it but, looking at his shaved head, she started questioning herself. With a shrug, she decided it was worth a shot.

Silently trotting over to the deeply thinking man, she gripped the brush. She took a deep breath when she stopped in front of him and pulled on his shirt to get his attention. Lou huffed when she realized he was too distracted to notice her. So, in annoyance, she jabbed him in the stomach with the brush's handle.

"Holy Shit!" Martinez had to grab the table to steady himself so he wouldn't fall back in his chair. Looking around franticly, he didn't see anyone until, after feeling another stomach jab, he looked down. With a deep sign, he says, "Jesus Christ, where the hell did you come from?" Lou just pointed to the bathroom door, like it was the most obvious answer. The man just shook his head and took note to the girl's toweled state. "Don't you think you should wait in the bathroom for Karen? She is bringing you clothes to put on." Lou shrugged before holding out the brush, which just confused Martinez. "What do you want me to do with that?" And as a joke he added, "Brush your hair?"

Lou nodded her head with a happy look in her eyes, pleased Martinez apparently caught on to her silent request. Eagerly, she handed him the brush and turned her back to the baffled man, waiting for him to start. Well, Martinez thought, this is unexpected. Not knowing what else to do, and not wanting to upset the now seemingly stable and innocently happy girl, he started running the brush through her hair. He, however, was not as good as Karen when it came to the skill, Lou noted. Unlike Karen, he unconsciously forced the brush through the tangles, instead of easing it through, and used unnecessary pressure when pushing the brush against her head. It was safe to say the experience wasn't as soothing as she'd like, but she could live with it.

"Chica, you really need a haircut." Martinez commented, working the brush through long, wet tresses. He will admit that the girl's hair was nice, but there was just so much of it that it was ridiculous. He didn't know how the girl went so long without a biter grabbing her by it and taking a chunk out of her neck. In his mind, that in itself was a miracle. He snorted and thought, this girl must be a miracle child, or something. How else could she survive alone?

Lou looked back at him and shrugged. She really didn't care about her hair, thinking that it's just annoying. She'd rather have it short and out of the way, but never really had the time to lop it all off with biters around almost every corner. Humming, she figured that may not be a problem in Woodbury.

"Hey, Lou…" She looked back at the man. "What exactly happened to you?" She tilted her head, confused. The Spanish man put down the brush and cleared his throat. "I mean, how did you get those scars? What happened?" Lou's face suddenly went blank as the memories of the last few years of her life flew through her head. The sudden change caused Martinez to pause in all actions. He watch as Lou turned her head to look out the window and her entire body language change from innocent curiosity to a more ridged rage and sorrow filled stance. He watches as a variety of emotions flashed through her eyes, and they all varied from different levels of anger and depression. The change actually scared the man.

Wanting her to go back to her happy state, Martinez quickly said, "You don't have to talk about it now." Lou glanced at him with a now dead look; it sent frighten shivers down his spine. "I'm sorry I brought it up. Just forget I said anything." Lou walked away from Martinez and back into the bathroom. As she shut the door, she looked the man in the eyes. And Martinez saw them; tears threatened to fall from her eyes, but she held them back. Then the door was shut and the lock clicked. All was silent, but, if Martinez listened hard enough, he could hear barely audible sobs coming from behind the locked door. He regretted ever opening his mouth.

Lou could take a lot of stuff. She could take Merle not playing cards with her, like what almost happened, and she could take the dead monsters walking around eating people. She, however, could not take the nightmarish memories that haunted her. The little girl sat, curled in on herself, between the toilet and bathtub, silently crying. She didn't want Martinez to see her cry. She didn't want anyone to see her cry ever again. She hasn't cried in front of anyone in so long, she couldn't bring herself to do it now. Especially after what happened the last time she cried in front of someone. The little girl shuddered at the memory and unconsciously rubbed the scar marring her throat.


	4. Hiding Tears

Author's note: All I can say is that I love seeing how many people enjoy this story and I hope not to disappoint anyone. Please, feel free to leave reviews. I love reading them!

Disclaimer: Same as every the previous chapter and the two before it.

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As Karen shifted through the unused children's clothes, her mind kept wandering back to Lou. The girl was so small, it worried her. But she couldn't focus on that. She had a job to do and that was to find something that would not only fit the girl, but also be something she would like. Normally, the person's preferences wouldn't be considered. Not this time, Karen told herself, Lou obviously deserved more than just any old thing. She felt the girl needed something good and nice in her life, because the girl obviously wasn't eating from a silver spoon before the infection started. More like beaten with it, Karen nearly growled to herself.

A pair of light blue children's jeans caught her eye. They were top of the line and a looked to be Lou's size, if anything a little big. Karen grabbed them and a white belt with a pink and blue butterfly buckle that was near it and examined them for faults. Finding none, Karen smiled and draped them over her forearm and grabbing similar, but sadly not as nice, pairs of pant before moving towards the shirts. It was too hot for most of the long-sleeved shirts, so she started examining the thin button-ups.

The image of Lou backing into Merle, and staying close to him, surfaced in Karen's mind. She looked up in thought before gently smiling and looking for some button-ups similar to the tan and black ones Merle was fond of wearing. A grin covered her face when she found what she was looking for, two manicure replicas of Merle's button-ups. Karen was sure Lou would like them. Feeling a little mischievous, Karen went back to the children's pants to get the pair of tan cargo pants she saw. They were for boys, but looked small enough for Lou and just like Merle's. She couldn't help herself when she went back to the shirts and raided them for a black and a white tank top.

After she finished finding her mini-Merle outfits, Karen let out an amused chuckle. She couldn't stop the image of Lou, dressed like Merle, from entering her head. It was just too cute, even when a huffy Merle popped into it and scowled at his little clone. The whole image was just too entertaining to the woman. It then occurred to Karen that, aside from the jeans and belt, all she found wear boy's clothes for the girl. Quickly she searched for a couple shirts for Lou that were actually made for girls, but she didn't feel Lou would really like them as much. So she found a couple cute shirts with butterfly and flower graphics on them and hoped for the best.

Now was the tough part, shoes. It's not that she felt the girl would be picky, she saw Lou was wearing sneakers that were literally falling apart earlier, it was just finding anything that would fit her. Woodbury didn't have as big of a shoe selection as it did for shirts and pants, which only now showed to be a problem. She made sure to check Lou's shoe size before her first attempt at find the girl clothes, and Karen couldn't find any sneakers in her size. With a dejected sigh, she decided her best bet was to search through the boy shoes and find something that could pass as unisexual. Karen was satisfied after finding a pair of plain white sneakers that looked really close to Lou's size and grabbed them. When heading to grab some socks and underwear, she saw a pair of small, black boots. Karen couldn't help herself, thinking of the one thing the mini-Merle outfits that were missing. She knew she was going to get a boat load of shit from Merle for this, but the opportunity was almost too perfect.

After grading some undergarments and multi-colored socks for Lou, Karen was ready to leave the storage room. Then she remembered the scar across Lou's neck and knew the girl would get looks for it. Looking around, she tried to find something, anything, which could cover it. Scarfs were too warm for the current weather and Karen didn't feel comfortable with a little girl wearing a choker, so they were out. She was just about to give up hope when she saw the corner of a black and white bandana peeking out from under a light weight, black hoodie. That could work, she thought with a grin. Swiping it up, she placed it on top of the pile of clothes draped over her arm. With the grin still on her face, Karen glanced at the hoodie and did a double take.

"That's perfect for her!" Karen couldn't help but exclaim that out loud in her excitement. She lifted up the hoodie to get a better look at the design stitched on the back. She admired the pure white angel wings with the word "hope" printed above it in sleek cursive letters. With a gentle smile on her face, Karen left the storage room, pleased beyond compare with her findings.

At the same time, Merle and the Governor were heading back to the apartment. Merle managed to weasel the biter feeding job onto someone else, after he made Hector into a bucket of unrecognizable slop. Few words were spoken between the men since the Governor left Merle to clean up. The Governor didn't say anything because he was trying to force his mind from its dark place before he saw Lou again. Merle didn't say anything because he was thinking about the little girl, wondering where she learned to hold and use a knife.

The other adults didn't notice it, but Merle did. Lou held that knife like a trained solder when she slit Hector's forearm. He remembers his old drill Sargent repeatedly correcting all the cadets on the correct technique to use when handling a knife. Once Merle thought about it, it amazed him how close to perfect the girl's technique was. But what got to him was the type of knife Lou had. A carbon Opinel folding knife, he recalled, one of the sharpest knives he's ever owned. Though they're really for preparing meat while camping, Merle barely left home without his before the apocalypse; it was just too convenient. How the kid got her hands on one, he didn't really care to know. He just wondered what other types of knives the girl had and was kicking himself in the ass for not paying closer attention earlier. Merle swore he'd shit a brick if she had a buck knife in her little collection.

Lost in his musing, Merle almost ran head first into Karen as she exited the building that stored extra supplies. Cursing, the man glared at the woman, blaming her. "Watch where the hell yer goin'!" Then he noticed the clothes in her arms. Before he could say anything, the Governor started questioning the woman.

"Karen, why aren't you with Lou?" The woman tore her attention from Merle and gave it completely to the Governor. He looked worried, but on the inside he was cursing the woman to hell and back.

"Don't worry," she said with a smile, "Martinez is with her right now. I only left to get her clothes, though I may have gone a little over board." Karen finished her explanation sheepishly, just now taking note of all the clothes she got the girl. The Governor looked at the pile and gave a nod.

"That's fine, don't worry about the amount. She only had three outfits, including what she was already wearing." The Governor was willing to give Lou as many outfits as she wanted. He would do anything to get her trusting him completely. He was also willing to forgive the woman for leaving Lou's side, solely because she left her with Martinez and for a good reason.

Karen's eyes widened at what the Governor said. She had a feeling that the other two outfits were just as dingy, dirty, and torn as the one Lou was wearing when she first arrived. It upset Karen just thinking about it. Now she really hoped Lou like the clothes she picked out. Remembering some of the things, she gave Merle an I-know-something-you-don't-know smirk, but quickly looking away before he saw it. Continuing the returning trip to the apartment, Karen internally cackled at the unsuspecting redneck behind her. She was finally going to get back at him for all those sexist comments, but in a small way that wouldn't cause her to meet his knife prostatic face to blade. The small victories may not be the greatest, but they were some of the sweetest, she told herself.

While the three adults were approaching the apartment building, Lou was standing on a small up-turned trashcan in front of the bathroom mirror. She was glaring at her reflection. Or, more specifically, her red from crying eyes. The skin around her eyes was also irritated from all the crying and it also annoyed her. With a growl, she splashed cold water into her eyes and tore the rag by the sink from its metal loop. She first gently dried her eyes with the rag and then soaked it with really cold water. Satisfied, she jumped from her unconventional stepstool and sat on the toilet, placing the towel over her face, with her eyes open, once she was settled. Lou learned a long time ago that it took at least some, if not most, of the redness away from her face. She hated crying, and how easy it was to tell when someone was crying.

The bad men always took it as an excuse, or made games out of it, she remembered. She was never allowed to cry. Crying led to bad, painful things. So, she had to find ways to hide that she cried, and she did as much as she could. Cold water helped. She can't remember how she figured that out, but was glad she did.

Releasing a sigh, Lou leaned back on the toilet's tank, wondering when she was going to see Merle again. He reminded her of the man that tried to save her from the bad men after people started turning into monsters. He looked mean and scary, said not nice things, but he protected her. She never learned the man's name and he never learned hers, but he taught her a lot of stuff after he snuck her out of the bad men's house, ways to survive in the new world. It was just the two of them for a long while, and Lou was happy with things that way. For the first time in a very, very long time she was happy. He didn't hurt her or do anything bad to her, she felt safe around him. But then the bad men found them, she remembered with a sad frown.

The bad men found them, hurt the nice man and her really badly. But the nice man never cried or begged and, for the first time, she saw that the bad men could get hurt to. The nice man hurt and killed a lot of them trying to protect her, but there were too many for just him to take. They beat the nice man to death in front of her and she was angry. She had never been angry at the bad men before, just scared, no terrified, of them. But she was no longer afraid. The bad men hurt her after they were done with the nice man, tied her up when they were done, but they didn't tie her to anything or move the nice man's body away from her. Those were two of four mistakes they made that night. The third was not taking her directly back to the bad house to the rest of the bad men. But, the biggest and last mistake was taking their eyes off of her after they bound her.

She remembered squirming over the rocky ground to the nice man's body, rolling around trying to grab one of the knives he always carried and taught her to use. When she finally got one, she cut herself free. As much as she hated having to do what she did next, she did it because the nice man told her to so he wouldn't hurt her. She stabbed his dead body in the head so he wouldn't come back. He said that the cruelest thing was to let someone come back. That was when she decided to do what she did. The bad men used her, they hurt her, and they took the only good thing she had from her. That night, she got up on shaky, bruised legs, finally having enough.

Lou closed her eyes at the memories of what she did. She regrets nothing. No, that's not true. Lou had one regret, just one, and that was not killing all the bad men. The ones she did kill though, those men had to die, just like the ones she didn't get to kill yet. They never should have taken the nice man from her. They never should have looked for her. They never should have hurt her. They never should have taken her from her mommy and daddy to begin with. What happened, and what will happen, to them was their fault, she told herself. It was all their fault.

Sitting there she chose to remember all the good memories she had of the nice man. How he found her chained in the bad men's basement. How he freed her and swore he was going to get her as far away from the bad men as possible. How he taught her to scavenge, fish, and set traps so she could feed and take care of herself. How he taught her to camp and use knives to clean her game with, to cook with, and fight with. How he taught her to shoot and take down biters, or "shit fer brains" as he called them. How he taught her to hide her supplies whenever they set base up in a building, but keep them close when outside. He taught her so much, but she taught him a few things to.

Lou was creative when finding ways to get biters off their tails, always setting some type of noise making system up to distract the dead; or just finding something on the spot that would do the job. She shook from holding in her giggles, remembering the look on the man's face when Lou made a trap with old Christmas bell they found that got tangled around a biters feet, causing the rest of the dead group to swarm it. When they got away he patted her on the head and gave her some candy he found on one of their scavenges. Those were the good times, she thought with a happy, yet sad, sigh.

Hearing the apartment door open, and people walk in, Lou quickly throw the towel from her face and looked in the mirror again. The puffiness was gone, and her eyes were only a little red now. She nodded to her reflection. If anyone asked, she could lie and just write that she got a little soap in her eyes. Hearing the Governor's and Martinez's voices she knew she had to stop their conversation, or Martinez may say something.

Quickly running to the door, Lou unlocked it and threw it open. It slammed against the wall, cause her to flinch and all the attention to turn to the child. She started blushing in embarrassment and at the new found attention. However, it successfully stopped Martinez from answering the Governor's question on the girl's wellbeing, which she noted. At the sound of a now familiar barking laughter, Lou's head snapped to where Merle was standing and she grinned. Karen didn't miss that, and thought it was cute, though very weird. Despite how adorable it would be to see Lou copying Merle's style, it was odd for her to see Lou actually happy to see the man. It was still Merle after all, but, seeing Lou actually smile, Karen couldn't bring herself to be anything but happy. There just may be hope for the girl yet, Karen thought relieved.

"Lou," the woman said, "despite how soft that towel is I think you may want to put some real clothes on." Lou looked confused before looking down at herself. Looking back at the woman, she just shrugged. Lou knew no one in the room was going to hurt her. Actually, she still wasn't sure about the Governor, but the rest wouldn't. Karen just shook her head and said, "Come on sweetie, back in the bathroom you go." Lou just pouted and did as the woman said and was closely followed by Karen, who shut the door behind them.

"Well, it looks like she's doing alright," the Governor said, no longer concerned with whatever Martinez was going to say. Martinez just looked to where the girl previously stood. He didn't know what to say anymore. He knew he should tell the Governor how Lou reacted to his questions, or else the Governor would repeat them to her. And he swore he heard the girl crying, but, with how she just acted, he wasn't certain anymore. Throwing his worries to the wind, he decided to hell with it and started talking again.

"Governor," said man looked to Martinez, "I asked Lou about what happened to her before you came back." A look of interest covered both the Governor's and Merle's face. They waited for the Spanish man to continue. Letting out a sigh, Martinez said, "She didn't write anything down, but how she reacted makes me concerned."

"What do you mean," he Governor asked in a low voice so Lou wouldn't hear.

In a voice just as quiet, Martinez replied, "She came out of the bathroom earlier and, after I asked her what happened to her, she shut me out. I could tell that the topic makes her not just angry but depressed, so I told her she didn't have to answer yet." Martinez let out a shuttered breath and gulped. "She gave me this dead stare after I said that, almost like there was no life inside her, and locked herself in the bathroom until you guys got back. I could've sworn she was crying, but, with how she just acted, I can't be sure." Martinez looked the Governor in the eyes and said something neither of them wanted to hear or acknowledge, "Whoever hurt her did more than just beat her. I don't know what, but it nearly destroyed her psychologically, and that's only if it didn't, by some miracle, shatter her." The Governor and Martinez looked down in deep thought.

"She ain't done fer," two sets of eyes snapped towards the forgotten redneck slouching against the wall. He uncaringly glance at the two men and scoffed. "Jesus Christ, ya all are actin' like she's some glass doll. The girl damn near sliced Hector's arm off ta protected herself. If she's broken, than she's doin' a hell of a job fixin' herself, else she'd'a let the fucker have his way with her." Merle was just tired of the Governor and Martinez talking like the girl was some broken toy. He could see she was like a Dixon. She was a survivor. She'd pull through on her own, but she needed an outlet to do it. For Merle it was drugs, booze, and cheap, meaningless sex; for Daryl if was hunting, camping, and just being alone in general. But Merle's outlets had changed when he got to Woodbury; now his were the arena fights and just beating the shit out of whomever the Governor told him to. Though Merle wouldn't recommend his outlets for the kid, he could think of a few that may work for her.

The Governor frowned at Merle, not wanting to admit that he may be right. But, he thought, if Merle is right, than there isn't as much to worry about. Suddenly, the Governor realized Merle provided him with the perfect opening to get his plan underway.

"Well then, Merle," the man gave the Governor a curious look as he started talking, "since you seem to be more knowledgeable about Lou's condition, why don't you be her caretaker." Martinez's jaw dropped at the Governor's suggestion and he looked at an equally shocked Merle. The Governor internally smirked and said, "Not to mention she seems to really like you and I doubt she would take to anyone else."

"As much as I would hate to admit it," Martinez looked at a shocked silent Merle, "and believe me I really hate to admit it, but the Governor may be right about that. She does seem to favor you and no one else would be able to handle whatever's wrong with her." Merle was just getting angry the more they talked. How was he supposed to take care of a little girl, he screamed in his head. Taking care of Daryl was one thing, Lou is something else entirely. For one thing, she was a GIRL. For another, she seemed to have a lot of baggage that he didn't want to deal with.

Unfortunately for him, Merle couldn't really say no to the Governor. A soldier couldn't say no to his commanding officer, thought that didn't stop Merle from kicking the shit out of his and getting a dishonorable discharge. He had a good reason, didn't mean anyone took the backwoods redneck's words over a highly decorated General's. But, that was that and this was the Governor, and Merle knew the Governor was at least a little nuts and would have his ass on a platter if given the chance. So he gritted his teeth and nodded.

In the bathroom, Lou now dressed in clean underwear, the tan cargo pants, and a white tank top was seated, once again, on the toilet while Karen tied the black boots on her now blue, sock covered feet. Karen's hunch was right. As soon as Lou saw the mini-Merle outfits, her eyes light up and a huge smile covered her face. Karen felt unbelievably proud of herself; she made Lou happy and it was at Merle's expense. She was going to wait to give her the black button-up and belt until after she got the boots on the girl. She already decided to wait to give her the bandana after the guys saw Lou dressed exactly like Merle, only with a pretty butterfly belt since the pants were a little big.

Karen had to stop herself from laughing at the thought as she finished tying the boots. When Karen fixed the pants bottoms to cover most of the boots, Lou jumped off her seat in excitement. She froze in place, however, when the pants fell down and pooled around her ankles. Looking wide eyed at Karen, Lou didn't know what to do. She liked the pants, they looked like Merle's and were comfy, but they were too big.

At the desperate look on the child's face, Karen showed her mercy and pulled out the belt. Kneeling in front of the child, Karen fixed her pants and secured them in place with the belt. Lou had to stop herself from jumping in place when the pants didn't fall down again. Seeing Karen pull out the black button-up, Lou quickly reached for it, wanting to wear it as soon as possible. Submitting to the child's wishes, Karen once again did as she was silently instructed. The woman thought to herself that, as much as she wanted to help and get to know the child, she didn't want to be placed in charge of her. Only because Karen had the feeling she would never be able to say no to Lou, ever.

"Alright sweetie, time for you to walk out there like you own the place." And Lou did just that. Taking a deep breath, Lou straightened her back, squared her shoulders, opened the bathroom door, and strutted into the main room of the apartment in a very Merle like fashion, smirk included. Crossing her arms, Lou stopped and jutted her chin out, waiting for the men's reactions. She was pleased with the bug-eyed stares and almost floored Martinez. The Spanish man quickly looked between Lou and Merle and blinked, not knowing what to say.

"Da fuck?" Yeah, Martinez thought, Merle just summed it all up. No one noticed the Governor's eye twitch.

"So, what do you guys think?" Karen asked from the bathroom doorway. "Is she the winner of the look-a-like contest, or what?"

"Or what, is more like it." Martinez said, giving the woman a weird look. He looked back at the still smirking Lou to see her having a staring contest of sorts with a scowling Merle. Neither one seemed willing to lose; lose what, he wasn't sure. He couldn't tell if the whole thing was funny or creepy. Funny because it made the Governor speechless and creepy because Lou looked and acted very Merle like. He decided on funny when Lou started laughing, or at least what they assumed was her laughing by the smile that covered her face. It sounded more like a quiet, wheezy, repeated "sh" sound. The laugh brought the adults' attention back to the scar across Lou's throat.

"Hey sweetie, I have something else for you." Lou looked back at Karen, who put the rest of the clothes on the bed in the room and was approaching her with the black and white bandana. The girl tilted her head, wonder if Karen was going to use it to put Lou's hair back. The nice man did that when he said Lou's hair kept getting in the way. Watching the woman fold it into a triangle, Lou assumed she was right and waited for Karen to do what she was going to do. When it was tied around her neck, the girl scrunched her eyebrows together, not understanding the action.

"There, now you don't have to worry about anyone seeing your scar." Lou didn't look back at Karen's smiling face. She just flipped the bandana's tip, thinking about the woman's words. Why would she worry about people looking at her scars, Lou wondered. Yeah people gave her strange looks because of them, but the nice man told her not to worry about them. They proved she wasn't weak. "Lou, are you alright? You don't have to worry about anyone staring at you anymore, so don't worry. Not to mention you look so cute with it!" The girl looked back at Karen. Lou didn't understand why she had to worry about what other people did, but she just smiled and nodded her head, ignoring the cute comment.

The only one in the room to notice Lou's discomfort with the bandana was Merle, but he didn't say anything. He thought the kid looked like a wannabe cowgirl with it. But who was he to pop Karen's little happy bubble? If Lou had a problem with the thing, he'd just tell the kid to take the thing off when they got back to his, or rather, their apartment. Merle scowled at that thought. He managed to have his own place since he got to Woodbury, and now he had to share it with a kid. Not exactly something he found he should be celebrating. He'd scare her off, he told himself. After all, no one but Daryl could, or would, tolerate long periods of time with Merle. He knew Lou would end up like everyone else, giving him dirty looks, like he was trash, when he wasn't looking. Merle ignored the look of wonderment and glee Lou only gave him.


	5. What Happened

Author's note: Nothing to say aside from I don't own the Walking Dead and I hope you enjoy the new chapter and please review. Oh! And who saw the season 5 premier? Because personally, I thought it was totally badass and, for the first time, I wasn't completely hating on Carol. Preach your opinions! Let your voice be heard!

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After the initial shock of Lou's new look had passed, the Governor thought it best to sit her down and start questioning her. He felt Lou would be more comfortable if it was just the two of them, so he had Karen, Merle, and Martinez waiting out in the hall. Unfortunately, he was wrong, but he didn't know that. On the outside, Lou looked perfectly calm but, on the inside, she was just short of having a panic attack. She didn't know why, but she did not want to be alone with the man seated before her at the small table. She was grateful her new baggy clothes hid her slight shaking and how tense she was. She didn't want to look weak.

Oblivious to the girl's discomfort, the Governor was thinking of how he should go about questioning the child. Due to Martinez's earlier warning, the Governor felt it best to revise the list of questions he'd normally ask. Not to mention, since he already knew she wasn't part of a group, he already had one question answered. But, unfortunately, there was still some things he needed to know about the people who hurt her; things that could not be swept under the rug.

Looking at the child seated before him, the Governor had to think of an appropriate place to start. He wasn't limited to yes or no questions anymore, but that just made the whole thing more difficult. Now he could get detailed answers, and he knew he didn't want to know all the details. Not to mention, as Martinez found out, Lou was sensitive to certain subjects and would shut him out if he asks the wrong questions. The Governor couldn't have that or he'd never earn her trust.

_A nice man took me away from the bad men. It was just me and him for a _

_while and he taught me how to stay alive._

The Governor looked to the open notebook Lou slip in front of him. She wanted to get this whole thing over with as soon as possible and had a feeling the Governor didn't know what to say, so she picked a spot to start. Lou knew she could answer any question he had about the nice man, and some about the bad men. She just hoped he wouldn't ask what they did to her or what she did to some of them.

"So you did have someone, but where is he now? And who were the 'bad men'?" The Governor was happy Lou started the conversation.

_The bad men took me from my mommy and daddy a long time ago. The nice _

_man got me away from the bad men. The bad men killed the nice man when _

_they found us._

A long time ago could mean anything, the Governor thought, a month at least. But, remembering the scars on Lou's wrists, it had to have been much, much longer. That thought didn't sit well with him, and neither did a few others. "Could you explain what you mean by 'found'?"

_We didn't know they were looking for me_ _but one night the bad men came _

_out of the woods. They hurt the nice man until he died. Then they hurt me _

_and tied me up but I got free._

"That must have been scary." So they are hunting Lou down and treated her like an animal, he growled in his head. He swore that if he or his men had a run in with them, they would only live long enough to regret their actions. "How did you get away?"

Lou looked down at the notebook, not really wanting to answer. She knew she couldn't write that she killed a few of the men and watched them, from the safety of a high tree branch, come back and eat the rest while they slept. Then, when the monsters that could walk left, climbed back down and took everything she needed and ran before a crawling one could get her. She knew telling the Governor that would not end well for her. So she decided to edit that story a little.

_I squirmed to the nice man's body and used one of his knives to cut myself _

_lose. Before I could leave monsters came so I climbed a tree to hide and _

_saw them eat the men. After the monsters left I climbed back down and left _

_with as much stuff I could carry._

The Governor held back a grimace and asked, "So all the 'bad men' are dead?" He didn't like that Lou, as far as he knew, was forced to watch biters eat humans. But, if it, by some chance, gave her a sense of security to know that the people who hurt her were gone, he could deal with the thought.

_No only 8 of them were there. The nice man killed 2 and the monsters _

_killed the rest that were there. But there are about 5 more still alive_

_somewhere._

Dammit, the Governor cursed in his head. So Lou still had to worry about being found by them, he internally growled. The girl saw the anger in the Governor's eyes and could tell it was, thankfully, not directed at her. She wondered what his reaction would be if he knew she repeatedly stabbed two of the six men in the heart and deeply slit the throat of the man who slit hers, only she made sure he didn't survive it like she did, so they'd turn and kill the last three. Lou, however, made no motion to reveal those facts. She would take that information to her grave.

"Lou, do you happen to know where the bad men's house is located?" She looked up in thought at the Governor's question. She didn't know exactly where it was, the nice man kept them moving from place to place almost the entire time she was with him. But, she remembered a few things about the area.

_Not really but it was a big house with a fountain and was by a lot of _

_other big houses. There was a really big metal gate around all the_

_houses._

The Governor wondered just who the hell kidnapped her. From what she just wrote, they weren't some everyday lowlifes. She was definitely held within a gated community, which meant at least the leader was wealthy if she was taken before the infection started. And there was only one way to know if that was true. "Lou, did the bad men take you from your mommy and daddy before or after the 'monsters' started eating people?"

_A really long time before I was just about to start kindergarten_

_when they took me_

The Governor just stared at Lou, not knowing what to say. Lou looked about six years old, but malnourishment could make her look younger. Meaning Lou was kidnapped at least a little under a year ago. The man let out a sigh, "Lou, how old are you?" Lou frowned and shrugged her shoulders. She didn't know how long the bad men had her for. Just that it was a long time. "Do you know when your birthday is and what year you were born?" Lou looked up in thought before nodding and started to write again.

_August 20 2002_

The Governor's eyes widen. The phrase "three years" kept repeating in his head. She was held against her will for three years. She was violently abused for three years and only got away after the world turned to hell. The Governor had to stop himself from breaking something and scaring the girl when he realized those three years were her only memories of the old world. He was brought out of his thoughts when the notebook was slid in front of him again.

_Do you know how old I am?_

After reading the question, the Governor looks at Lou with a sad expression. "You're eight years old…" He knew enough. Lou was eight years old. She was kidnapped three years ago, long before the apocalypse started. Whoever took her wasn't some everyday creep and was looking for her. Someone showed her enough mercy to try to save her and taught her to protect herself. And she had no one. There was no one she had an emotional attachment to. There was no one to return her to and the only people who would try to take her from him where on his "to-die" list. The only real obstacle to his claiming Lou as his child was Merle, since Martinez was shut out by the girl once already. But the governor didn't view Merle as any big threat, for no at least.

Lou looked out the window, thinking about what the Governor just said. Three years had passed and she didn't even know it. The leader of the bad men never told her what day it was. There were no windows where she was kept and she wasn't fed on a set schedule. Not to mention he turned the lights off and on whenever he felt like it; telling her to "wake up" or to "go to sleep" whenever he flipped the switch that was forever out of her reach. There was no way to know.

The only thing that always happened was the school work, which happened at irregular times. She never knew why he had her do it, but never complained. Those were the only times she wasn't hurt. No, that's not true, she remembered. She wasn't hurt as long as she answered questions right, but, she frowned, he still did bad things after the school work was over. He just didn't do them right before or during the lessons.

"I guess that's enough questioning." Lou's head snapped to the Governor. "But, I can't exactly let you wonder around with weapons." Lou's eyes widen as she hugged her bag to her chest. She would give him her gun, but never her knives. Being the only thing she had of the nice man, they were far too important to her. She'd rather leave Woodbury and Merle than give them up. "Lou you're safe here, so you won't need them." The Governor held out his hand. "So, could you please give them to me?"

After rapidly shaking her head, Lou started writing.

_You can have the gun but please PLEASE don't take my knives!_

The Governor was at a crossroad. On one hand, he wanted Lou to trust and like him but, on the other, civilians were not allowed to carry weapons. It was one of the most enforced rules of Woodbury. He supposed it could be alright for her have them if she didn't carry them around. Releasing a sigh the Governor said, "You can keep them on one condition. You are not allowed to have them with you anywhere outside of Merle's apartment. Are we clear?"

Lou rapidly nodded her head, she could agree to those terms. She wasn't necessarily going to follow them, but she'd agree to them. There were enough places in her bag to hide her knives, especially since she only had one big one. She suddenly stopped nodding her head and tilted it, realizing the Governor said "Merle's apartment". Why would I be in there, she thought. Then it hit her and she started writing.

_Am I staying with Merle?_

It just accrued to the governor that he had yet to mention that to Lou and she was quick to piece details together, which could either be very problematic or convenient in the future. He chose to ignore that for the moment and affirm Lou's hunch with a nod of his head. He hated the excited look that covered her face. He cleared his throat to get her attention when she went to run to the door. Most likely to Merle, he figured.

"Lou, gun please." Stopping him her tracks, facing away from the Governor, Lou blushed in embarrassment. Uncomfortably she walked back to the table with her head down low. She shuffled around in her bag, taking out the small pistol and half-empty box of bullets. Peaking at the Governor through her bangs, she slid them on the table and waited to be excused. The longer the silence dragged on, the more nervousness started replacing her embarrassment.

The Governor examined the gun. It was .22LR pocket pistol. He looked at Lou and wondered just how good she was with it, before throwing that thought away. He would make sure she never needed a gun again, even if he had to lock her away from the world. Images of Penny and Lou playing together while he watched in his chair entered his mind. They would smile to each other, laughing innocently, ignorant of the world outside the room in his office. It would just be the three of them, him and his two perfect girls.

Lou shivered, a chill clawed its way down her spine. She didn't know where it came from, the room was pretty hot. The girl gripped her bag's strap tightly to ease her frazzling nerves. Glancing at the Governor again, she knew he was the cause of her unease. She knows she decided to give him the benefit the doubt, but the weird spark that was in his eyes scared her. And the fact that she was getting scared made her even more scared. Fear was something she hadn't felt since she found out the bad men could get hurt. Ever since she had enough, nothing scared her; not the bad men, not the biters, not anything. But the Governor, more specifically the look in his eyes, terrified her. Lou knew she had to get away from the Governor. Right at that moment, she wanted Merle.

_Can I go now?_

The Governor was brought out of his fantasy by the notebook that was slid in his line of sight. No was the first word his mind conjured up, but he knew he couldn't say it. If he did, Lou would become scared of him. He did not notice the slight change in her handwriting. The Governor didn't see the shaky quality or heavy handedness to it that was not as pronounced earlier.

"Of course," Lou could hear the fakeness in his happy voice, "Merle should be just outside the door waiting for you." And he was, along with Martinez, watching Karen press her ear against the door. She resorted to eavesdropping to try and learn more about the girl, but it wasn't that helpful due to the fact she could only hear half of the conversation, and even that was muffled. But, she did hear the last bit and quickly scurried across the hall and leaned against the wall, acting completely natural while holding the pile of Lou's new clothes. Merle just snorted, earning a quick glare from the woman.

The second the apartment door opened, the glare was gone. It was replaced with a smile that was ignored by the little girl as she quickly stood beside Merle and gripped his pant leg. Said man scowled at Lou and jerked his leg to get the girl to release it. He was getting annoyed with her clinginess. Lou just accepted the treatment and stuffed her hands in her pockets. She didn't leave Merle's side, just let go of him for the moment.

The Governor exited the room and repressed a glare at the sight of the two. Once again, she ran to Merle and stuck to him as much as she could. He wondered how long it would last, how long it would take for her to finally run from Merle. If push came to shove, the Governor supposed he could show Lou how Merle was in the ring. Nodding to himself, the Governor decided to wait and see.

"Alright Merle, take Lou to get settled in and then take her to Milton so she can get a health evaluation." The Governor internally smirked at Merle's obvious annoyance; he wanted to make Lou as big of an inconvenience to Merle as possible. It was the best way to fuel the man's temper. "Karen, I need you to take care of a few things, so give Lou's clothes to Mer—" Before the Governor could finish his sentence, Lou had quickly scampered over to Karen and started taking the clothes from her. The girl placed as much as she could in her bag and piled the rest into her arms. She too saw Merle's agitation and wanted to make herself as little trouble to the man as possible. Lou had a feeling he had his own issues to worry about. Plus, she knew if she kept Merle calm, her chances of permanently staying with him seemed much higher.

"Lou, you don't have to…" Karen trailed off, seeing Lou take the last article of clothing and scurrying back to Merle's side. She appeared not to be bothered in the least by the extra weight, which shocked almost all of the adults there, all aside from Merle. He figured if the girl, despite her scrawny build, had to have been able to carry some extra weight. After all, she survived on her own for quite a while. She would have died if she couldn't.

The Governor was not pleased. Lou was making it difficult for him to make Merle's life difficult. He couldn't just tell her to make Merle carry her stuff. Well, he could, but he had a feeling she wouldn't listen. The girl was already set and waiting, which annoyed him.

Lou just nodded her head to Merle, silently telling him she's ready when he is, and stood beside him. He just glared down at her. He was happy that, so far, she didn't seem like she was going to be a too big of pain in his ass. However, he still didn't want her living with him. He knew she was mentally messed up, and that he wasn't the best for her. He didn't cuddle and talk things out. He, and everyone else, knew he wasn't what she needed. In the old world, no one would have left him in charge of a child. But, a part of him argued, this ain't the old world and she ain't like everyone else. Merle looked away from Lou with a growl, crushing that last thought.

The Governor, not wanting to see Lou and Merle together, dismissed them. The second Merle started heavily walking away, without even sparing a glance to the girl, Lou fallowed. In a quick trot, Lou kept pace with Merle's long strides. She made no move to try and slow Merle down the entire trip to his, no their, place, which was in a completely different building. And he didn't look back to make sure she kept up.

The people of Woodbury tried not to openly stare at them, but they couldn't help it. They'd never seen a child get so close to Merle without him telling them to "fuck off" and leave him alone. The fact that they had never seen Lou before, and that she was dressed like Merle, only added to their curiosity. Their imagination started to go wild and only few took the scene for face value. Whispers started and rumors began to spread, some harmless and others not so much.

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Finished writing this chapter, thought back to the Friday the 13th story I'm doing for Halloween, realized I made Lou scared of the Governor but perfectly cool with Jason Voorhees...Is it just me, or is something just not adding up?


	6. No More Doubts

Author's note: Sorry for the late update, classes have been killer, but, after rereading the reviews for this story, I knew all my stories were long overdue for updates. So, I'm going to try to have another chapter updated by the end of this weekend! And I'm sorry for the pain that the delayed updates have been causing *looking at nickiesaysstuff review*. Anyways, I don't own The Walking Dead or its amazing cast, but Lou does belong to me. Please enjoy the newest chapter for A Scarred Child and review your hearts out.

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Lou looked around the surprisingly spacious, yet empty, apartment. There wasn't much. A two person couch, a coffee table, a bookcase, and a couple small lamps were all that were in the large living room, aside from some scattered trash. In the connected kitchen she could see a pile of dishes in the sink and, what she guesses are used, pans on the stove. The girl didn't care too much about the mess and easily ignored it.

"Just throw yer shit over there." Lou scurried to the corner Merle pointed to and dropped her new clothes on the floor with little thought or care. Turning around, she observed how Merle's demeanor changed now that he was in his, no their, home. It wasn't much, but she saw how his shoulders became a little less ridged as he lounged on the couch. Away from the judgmental eyes of Woodbury, Merle seemed more open. Lou didn't understand how it was possible, given how upfront Merle was, but that's how it seemed to her. She tilted her head, not understanding the man. She saw the annoyance in his eyes when he caught her staring and smiled at him.

Merle had no clue what to do with Lou. He didn't know where he was supposed to stick her or her stuff. His place only had one bedroom, therefore only one bed and dresser; and he wasn't planning on handing either over. Frankly, he didn't want to hand over any of his space. Lou wasn't even in the apartment for a minute and he already wanted her out. Then there was the whole issue about how messed up he knew the kid was. She had a lot of psychological issues that Merle just flat out didn't care about. He wasn't going to baby her or treat her special. She can find her own ways to deal with her problems like he and Daryl did, find that outlet he knew she needed.

Merle let out a groan as he rubbed his face in annoyance. Lou, seeing the action, dug around in her bag and pulled out a pack of pop tarts. She was glad the Governor didn't take her supplies and quietly made her way to him and poked his arm to get his attention. Removing his hand, Merle was face with a shiny rapper and a worried faced Lou. Lou wanted to appease him as much as possible. She didn't want to stay with anyone else, so she didn't want Merle to be annoyed with her.

Merle glared at the offering. He didn't understand why she kept giving him her crap. He knew he didn't do anything to deserve it, yet here she was, yet again, giving him her food. Before he could do or say anything, Lou placed the pack next to his leg and went back to her corner. Merle watched as she sat against the wall and watched him. He would never admit that the unwavering gaze was slightly creepy and made him feel a speck of guilt. He saw a spark of realization cover her face and watched her pull out her notebook and write something. She quickly scurried back to him and showed him what she wrote.

_Didn't the governor say something about seeing some guy name Milltan?_

Merle stared at the sentence and snorted at the misspelled name. He wondered how she'd spell Martinez's or Shupert's name. Looking further up the page, he saw his name spelled perfectly. Thinking back to it, he realized his name was never misspelled. He ignored that small sense of pride and grunted.

"Gimme a minute, just sat down." Leaning back into the couch, Merle unconsciously grabbed the pack of Pop Tarts, took one out, and started munching on it. Lou grinned at the sight and hopped on the couch next to him. "The hell you think yer doing?" Lou met his glare with a calm gaze. Leaning into the back of the couch, she let out a sigh, and melted into the cousin. "Dumbass kid." Lou ignored Merle's grumbling and relaxed as best she could.

To Merle, it looked like the kid let some of her walls down when it was just the two of them. He cursed to himself when he saw her breathing start to even out. Merle wondered what it was about him that made her so willing to sleep. "Get the hell up," he growled with a swat to her head. Lou grunted in annoyance and glared with one eye at the now smirking man. Shaking her head, she stretched her joints, not even bothering to waste paper scolding him. To an extent, Lou didn't mind the rude wake ups. A mere swat was a lot better than what the bad men did to wake her up.

With a new found bounce, she jumped of the couch and patted down her clothes for some unknown reason. Picking up her book, she started writing.

_Are we going to see Milltan?_

Despite his annoyance at having to get up, Merle couldn't help but snort. There was no way in hell he was correcting any misspelled names for her. It was just too funny, and he wanted to see the person's reaction. Merle also wondered what would happen if he got her to call Martinez a spic.

Lou tilted her head at Merle's laughter. Despite her confusion, she showed Merle the notebook again. He just nodded and heaved himself up. A part of him wondered if having her around wouldn't be as bad as he originally thought; she could be amusing at time. The rest of his mind squashed that notion, telling him she was going to get in his way and be a pain in his ass.

Lou quickly ran to her bag, threw all but one outfit out, settled it over her shoulder, and followed Merle to the door. The little girl wasn't going anywhere without a bag full of emergency supplies, just in case a quick split from Woodbury had to take place. She doubted it would happen anytime soon, but no one could predict the future.

In the hall, she watched Merle lock the door and wonder if she was going to get a key, but chose not to present her question to him. Once again, she kept up with Merle's fast pace as he walked through the streets of Woodbury, never once showing any hint of complaint. Once again, the people of Woodbury watched the scene awestruck.

There were already varying rumors going around. There was one where the little girl was Merle's long lost daughter who they found on their last run, another that she was secretly his slave, and more varying speculations. Some of the kids were already warned by their parents to stay away from the child, saying she must be dangerous if she's staying with Merle. Other kids were told to make friends with her when she started school, saying she must have had a hard time outside the fence and needed a good friend.

Nobody knew the real story yet, but Karen was sent to tell everyone that they were going to throw a celebration for the new arrival. The woman answered only a few of the townspeople's questions, saying the Governor was going to explain everything during the party the next day. However, when someone voiced a rather nasty remark about the child, Karen's cold words and eyes left the man cowering. That incident shocked everyone almost as much as Merle's little follower. Karen wasn't a cold woman, and would usually talk the problem out. For her to be so harsh, the townspeople started a whole new buzz. When the little girl walked by, they started whispering and openly staring at her.

Merle was getting tired of everyone's hushed tones. He could hear almost every word they were saying, and highly doubted Lou couldn't. Discreetly glancing at Lou, he saw her twitching uncomfortably at the persistent, unwanted attention. Aggravated with the clucking hens, he quickened his pace to Milton's lab. Lou quickened her pace as well, wanting the feeling of eyes on her gone. When they reached the double doors to the building, Merle ushered the child in, sending a harsh glare at the people who were staring. They quickly went back to what they were doing.

Entering the building, Merle ignored Lou's thankful eyes and heavily walked to the scientist's lad. Merle didn't get why the Governor wanted Milton to check out the girl and not the town's doctor, but didn't really care enough to think long on that thought. If anything, he figured it was because Milton was such a pansy, Lou wouldn't feel the least bit threatened by him. Merle didn't know he hit the nail right on the head.

Barging through the lab doors, Merle barked out a laugh as he watch the scientist nearly jump out of his skin. Whipping around in his chair, Milton sent a glare to the intruder. Only for it to whither at the sight of Merle. Merle was number one on Milton's "I do not want in my lab" list, mostly because the man was intimidating and had no respect for other people's things.

Lou peeked around Merle's leg to examine the clean-cut, rabbit like man. She titled her head, highly confused. He looked so soft; she wondered how he was still alive. At the sight of movement by Merle's leg, Milton's attention snapped to the small child. A look of realization covered his face.

"I take it you're the one the Governor mention? Lou, is it?" Lou stepped out from behind Merle and walked up to the man. When she stopped right in front of him, she pulled out her notebook and started writing. When she was done, she showed it to the man in front of her.

_You look weak. How are you still alive?_

Milton dropped his head and groaned. Cursing the innocent, unconsciously blunt rudeness all children seemed to possess. He could tell by the girl's wide eyed curiosity, she didn't mean it as an insult. With a deep sigh, he said, "I stayed with strong people and exchanged my intellect for protection." Lou gave him an unimpressed look and shrugged off his words, obviously disappointed with the explanation. She didn't write anything, but Milton felt slightly ashamed of his weakness when looking into the child's eyes.

The Governor told him about the girl, about how she was alone, what she did to Hector and why, and gave him a brief summary of everything she shared about herself. Frankly, looking at the girl now, he felt extremely inadequate in her presence. She wasn't really as intimidating as the Governor's soldiers, but there was definitely something about the girl that made him feel inferior. Lifting his head to look at the girl, he saw she was looking around his lab before she started writing once more.

_What is this place?_

"It's where I work." Milton started to feel a little pride. He was always happy to talk about is research with others.

_What do you do?_

"I'm a scientist. I'm trying to discover a way to show that the biters retain memory." Lou scowled at his words and looked him dead in the eyes. Once again, Milton felt uncomfortable in the child's presence. "Is something the matter?"

_They don't remember anything. They're dead._

"Yes, they may be, but there must be some part of them that remembers at least fragments of their old life. And I'm trying to prove that that's possible by getting someone highly familiar with things, sounds and objects, right before they die. When they come back, I see if they recognize—" Milton stopped talking when Lou started writing.

_When I was alone I watched two women for a while. They were twin_

_sisters and really close. I thought about seeing if I could join them_

_but I wanted to see if it was safe first. One day they got attacked by the _

_monsters. One got bite and I saw her eat the other right after she turned._

_Why would the monsters kill their families if they remembered stuff?_

Milton repeatedly reread what Lou wrote. He didn't know how to argue his case. Lou started writing again. When she was done she showed it to the scientist.

_They don't remember anything. But feel free to try and prove me wrong._

_But I will write I told you so when you learn the truth._

Merle, despite not seeing what Lou was writing, got the main points of the conversation from Milton's reactions. They were talking about Milton's, in his opinion, bullshit research and Lou was with him that it was a waste of time. Two against everyone else, he hadn't had those odds since he was with Daryl. It was a little refreshing.

Milton noted the slightly impish smile she had on her face after he finished reading. He guessed she meant the last line as a way to ease the tension. Lou, in all honesty, didn't want to insult Milton, but his view was just too farfetched. The monsters were dead. They don't think or feel. In Lou's opinion, to think otherwise is just stupid.

"Ya girls mind startin' the checkup, gettin' tired of waitin' over here!" Milton felt a bubble of annoyance rise in him from being referred to as a girl, but said nothing. Lou laughed a little at Merle's words and hopped of the metal table in the room. With that, Milton began the examination.

Aside from the scars he saw peeking out of her clothes, Milton found so sign of physical injuries on the girl. When he went to take her temperature, though, he saw that the tip of her tongue was slit a little, leaving a white scar and an inward groove. Milton noted her blood pressure was slightly high and her back teeth were grounded down slightly, the only explanation he could find was severe stress. Her reflexes were fine, but Milton didn't exactly appreciate the sharp kick she gave him to entertain Merle. Aside from malnourishment and stress, he found she was perfectly healthy.

"Alright, you're done," Milton said with exasperation in his tone. It's not that he disliked Lou; he just didn't know how to deal with children.

_Thanks Milltan!_

The scientist twitched in annoyance. "It's spelt M-I-L-T-O-N." Lou gave Milton a sheepish look before writing down a quick sorry. When Milton went to his desk, rubbing his head in annoyance, Lou smirked at his limped. She'll admit it, kicking him was a little childish, but he hit her knee with a little hammer. Merle cackled at the scientist's pain.

Hopping off the table, Lou stretched her arms in the air, unknowingly exposing her side to the scientist. Milton shuddered when he saw the sever cluster of scars on her hip.

"Lou, could you hold still for a second?" She looked at Milton confused before shrugging. He quickly approached the girl, taking off her button up, and lifted the bottom of her tank top, revealing her stomach, back, and sides.

"Da fuck you think yer—" Merle's yell was cut short when he saw what Milton was looking at. The cluster of scars weren't just located in the on area; they were located in random splotches all over her body, all overlapping each other and other scars. Merle knew exactly what they were from, a high voltage cattle prod.

The image of all the scars they were seeing was burned into their minds. Milton felt sick when he saw the scars that disappeared under her pant line and the word carved into her lower back. The word had at least two inches surrounding it of smooth, unmarred skin. It made Milton pity Lou, while it made Merle see red. Clear as day on her lower back, carved in carful, think letters, was "Whore."

Lou looked innocently over her shoulder at Milton. He met her gaze with one of absolute pity and lowered her shirt. He didn't know what to do; comforting people wasn't something he was good at. He did, however, know he had to tell the Governor.

Merle glared hatefully at the wall. Any doubts about what happened to Lou now shattered. Angry didn't describe his current mood. He was fucking pissed. He wanted to find the people who did that to Lou and shove that cattle prod up their asses all the way to the hilt.

Lou could feel the tension in the air, but wanted to act like she didn't in hopes that it would go away. She pulled out two small pieces of candy from her bag and gave one to Milton. After putting on her button up, Lou pranced over to Merle, stopping right beside him. Seeing his attention on the wall, she tugged the bottom of his matching shirt. His glare quickly snapped to the girl, but she ignored it. Holding out the second piece to him, she gave Merle a smile.

As he ate the small piece of candy, Merle decided that, despite how he didn't want her living with him, the only way someone would be able to lay a finger on Lou was over his stone cold, dead body.

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Here's an endnote to answer a question and respond to a statement! To answer the unnamed guest's question, Merle, whether he likes it or not, is stuck with Lou. She's like the abused puppy that ran away from her old owner and decided to follow Merle home, and, no matter what he says or does, will not leave. And JaliceJelsa4eva, that was the line that first blossomed the respect I now have for the Carol.


	7. First Night

Author's Note: I am so sorry I didn't update when I said I would! I literally got bombarded with assignments starting from that Monday on. In fact, I have a long take home quiz, a shit ton of math homework, a PowerPoint presentation, a self-portrait, and a city scape I should be doing right now (Winter-break, get here soon!). Please enjoy the new chapter, and again I'm so so so so sorry!

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The Governor sat quietly in his office after hearing Milton's report on Lou's checkup. Martinez stood by the door, glaring out the window. It wasn't a contemplative silence that consumed the room. The amount of killing intention that surrounded both men had the scientist trembling.

After Merle and Lou left Milton, he hurried to the Governor to deliver his findings. Taking a shaky sip from his large cup of tea, the scientist observed the two other men apprehensively. The poor scientist wanted to scurry back to his lab and hide. But there was one more conclusion he made based of the facts presented to him regarding the girl.

"Governor, you said she was held captive for three years, yes?" The addressed man gave Milton a curt nod. Swallowing the lump in his throat, Milton continued, "Than based on that fact, and the physical evidence, the girl was not just brutally beaten. She was systematically tortured."

"What the hell do you mean?" Milton flinched when he heard Martinez's harsh tone.

"I mean," Milton took a sip of tea to ease his nerves, "whoever had her knew what they were doing. All of her scars are proof of continues abuse, yes, but only few are vital. And, the ones that are, were professionally treated. Case in point, her throat was an injury like that would normally kill someone, yet she's still alive." He looked between the two contemplating men. "They knew exactly what they were doing to her the entire time they had her."

"So, you're telling me, some sick fucks kidnapped a child, branded her, continuously brutalized and raped her, and made sure to keep her alive just so they could keep doing it?!" Martinez started to pace to work out his anger. He will admit to doing things he wasn't too proud of under the Governor's instruction, but those things did not cross a very distinct line. Even he had his limits.

The Governor just sat there quietly, stewing in his anger. The pigs would pay, he told himself; they would suffer dearly. Both men had hoped, despite what was obvious, that Lou was spared some trauma. But that hope was destroyed after this discussion with Milton.

"It is impossible to know the full extent of what she went through, but," that but caught both angered men's attention, "she seems to be coping." Milton thought back to how Lou interacted with him and Merle. On his way to speak with the Governor, Milton realized why he felt inferior to the girl at times. It was the look in her eyes that screamed she had experienced far more than anyone should and she survived it by the skin of her teeth. She fought to live, while he hid behind others for safety. It made him see how weak he was. But, despite that harshness to her, she could still, to an extent, act her age. She may be mentally mature, but still very much a child. And that was proven by the innocence that was still present in her gaze and small actions, like kicking him when he tested her reflexes. Remembering the kick, Milton rubbed the small bruise on his leg.

"So, you believe she is capable of being a normal child?" Milton flinched at the Governor's use of the word "normal." He knew that Lou could never be classified as such, at least by the standards of the people of Woodbury. She experience so much, her mind would never allow it. But, outside the wall, and as long as she could trust them, she would blend right in, and thrive, with most people.

"Anything is possible." It was the only thing Milton could say that could possibly appease both men in the room with him. He knew she could come close to achieving being "normal," her childish action hinted to it, but it would be impossible for her to fully integrate herself with society. He found it a miracle she was so comfortable with Merle, but he supposed it made some sense.

Milton had heard of instances where the damaged seek the damaged, because they unconsciously felt a shared understanding. It was a way for someone to subconsciously heal. The scientist took another sib of his tea and released a sigh, "As long as she is with Merle, anything is possible."

Milton didn't even notice he whispered those words aloud, or the impact they had on the Governor; the only one who heard them. Again, the Governor thought. Again, Merle is the one she needs. He gritted his teeth and gazed at the picture of his family, from back before the biters. They needed him and he failed them. His wife died and his daughter was bitten. And, no matter what he did, his daughter hasn't snapped back to normal. Now here's Lou, his second chance, and he isn't who she wants or needs. It wasn't fair, he internally screamed.

It should be him, not Merle. Merle doesn't want her. Merle wasn't nice to her. And yet, Merle is the one she chose, not the Governor. The leader of Woodbury clenched his fist so tight his knuckles turned white. She will be his, he swore. Milton was wrong, Lou did NOT need Merle. She needed him, the Governor. He'd make her see it, but only when the time was right.

Milton watch as a small trickle of blood seeped through the Governor's tight fist, due to his nail digging into his palm. Milton didn't mention it to the man, instead choosing to nervously drink his tea. The scientist didn't understand it. Normally, he was comfortable in the Governor's presence, even when the leader was in a bad mood. But at this moment, something about the Governor felt off and Milton wanted to get out of there. He nervously gulped his beverage, feeling a sudden and immense worry for Lou.

In the apartment building for Woodbury's guards and their families, Lou patiently waited for Merle to unlock his, their, apartment door. She was currently carrying a small blanket and pillow Karen gave her when they ran into her, after the check-up with Milton. The little girl casted a glance to Merle, he hadn't said a word since Milton looked at her scars, but he glared at everyone that openly gawked at Lou. She found it funny when he seemed to realize who he was glaring at and then glare at her. As if everything was her fault.

The second Merle had the door opened and walked in, Lou scurried in after him. She quickly went to her corned and dropped the blanket and pillow onto her pile of stuff. Merle just watched her, amused by her actions, but still pissed about what he found out. The fact the he was pissed about something that didn't involve him or his brother made him more pissed, which is why he glared at Lou. But, when she looked at him, completely unfazed, he didn't know what to say. His brother would have glared back, or scoff, before just ducking his head submissively. Most anyone else would have frozen in fear before running away. Merle wasn't accustomed to someone who would just absorb his anger and keep pace with him. The world wasn't meant to have people like that…

Merle decided he was thinking too much and needed a drink. Looking to the clock, he saw he had plenty of time before everyone, who wasn't on wall duty, had to turn in. With a nod, he looked to Lou, realizing she was watching him, waiting to be told what to do. He glared.

"Alright, I'm headin' out. You stay here, just sit there, go ta sleep, do whatever, I don't care. Just don't mess anything up, got it?" Lou didn't let her disappointment at Merle's leaving show. She just nodded her head and watch Merle walk out the door, leaving her completely alone. She turned her head to look around the apartment, trying to think of something to do. It wasn't until her stomach growled, about twenty minutes later, that she decided to move from her spot and go into the kitchen. None of the cabinets or drawers she could reach had any food in them, so she got a chair and crawled onto the counter.

She began looking in the higher cabinets for something to eat. None of them were overflowing with food, but none of them were empty either. Reaching for the closets can she saw, she stood on her tippy toes, but just barely brushed the can with her fingertips. Groaning in frustration, she looked for something to stand on. All she found was a dirty pot that was on the stove. Moving it into position, she climbed on top of the pot, using the wall and cabinet for support.

When the pot began to wobble, Lou quickly and tightly gripped the cabinet, trying to steady herself. When it stopped moving, she reached into the cabinet and pulled out the easiest can to reach. She smiled seeing it was creamed corn. She only had it once with the nice man and loved it.

It wasn't until the pot started to tip again that she realized she shifted her balance too much after grabbing the can, but it was too late. The pot slipped out from under Lou's feet causing her to fall backwards. As she fell, Lou quickly let go of the can and curled in on herself, using her arms to cover her head and turned her body to the side. She hit the ground hard, just before the pot and can crashed to the floor. For a while she just lied there, trying to regain her breath, and not moving a muscle.

Very slowly, Lou uncurled herself, flinching when she felt pain in her arm and side. When she found her head didn't hurt, she tested her wrists and ankles. She let out a sigh, seeing they moved just fine. Standing up, the little girl lifted up the side of her shirt and poked the already yellowing bruise, biting her lip when pain emitted from it. Dropping her shirt, she walked over to the, now dented, can and picked it up before heading to the drawer she saw the spoons and a can opener in.

It wasn't until she was about to use the can opener that she realized Merle never gave her permission to eat. The corn belonged to him, not her. She had no right to it, despite how she gave him her food and juice. Looking at the can mournfully, she put it on the counter. Lou was not going to do anything that could possibly upset Merle, and that included using his supplies without his permission.

Walking back into the living room, Lou sat in her corner and pulled out one of her protein bars. Unwrapping her dinner, the little girl looked out the window at the darkening sky. Taking a bite of the whole grain bar, she scrunched up her face. She hated the taste, but ate it anyways, casting glances between the can of corn and the darkening sky.

She was still hungry after eating, but ignored it. Pulling her largest knife out of her bag, she curled up in her corner; resting her head on the pillow Karen gave her. With the knife gripped tightly in her little hands, Lou just stared at the opposite wall. This was the first time, for as long as she could remember, that she was actually "safe" enough to fall asleep when it was dark. It was too unnatural to her, knowing there was very little chance of someone, or something, hurting her while there was no light. Yet, despite knowing that, she couldn't bring herself to relax.

Her body was locked into position as she lied there, blankly staring ahead of her. She knew she would fall asleep eventually, maybe not that night, but eventually. Sleep came randomly to her; never having consistency in sleeping patterns being the cause. Lou found it strange that she fell asleep next to Merle in the car and almost fell asleep again sitting next to him on the couch, but didn't question it. She's fallen asleep in so many odd places that she didn't feel the need to dwell on the fact.

When the sun finally disappeared from the sky, Lou turned her attention to the door. She didn't turn on one of the lamps. She knew the light would attract the monsters. After approximately fifty minutes of lying in the dark, Lou finally drifted to sleep, knife in hand.

It never occurred to the child to sleep anywhere but on the floor, in her corner. To her, that was the only place she was allowed to be. It was a place she was accustomed to being. During the three years of her captivity, that was where she was. For three years, she was chained in the corner of a basement with nothing. No bed, no pillow, no blanket. She didn't even know what those three items were until she met the nice man. But, even then, the most she had were an old lumpy mattress with the springs poking out, and old, ratty pillow and a musty blanket that was falling apart.

In her sleep, Lou repeatedly tossed and turned her head into the large, puffy pillow. It wasn't until she threw the pillow to the side that she stopped restlessly moving. And that was how Merle found her when he finally stumbled back into the apartment. After flicking on the lights, a barely buzzed Merle saw Lou curled on the floor, clutching desperately to a buck knife. Seeing she did have a buck knife, Merle supposed it was time to shit that brick.

At the sound of whimpers, Merle shook his head of the thought and looked to the girl and saw her face twisted in fear. There were even tears in the corner of her eyes. Seeing Lou mouth something in her sleep, Merle forwarded his brows. Heavily approaching the girl, he saw her body tense up in her sleep. When he was standing beside her, he could make out only two words that she was rapidly mouthing. "No" and "stop" were the only two words he could clearly see her trying to say.

Merle knew he needed to wake the kid up, but wasn't stupid enough to try and shake her. He wouldn't doubt she'd have that buck knife hilt deep in his gut the second he tried. This whole situation brought up more memories of his brother from back when he was a kid. How Merle would stumble into the house after a night of drinking and find Daryl cowering in the corner after a beaten from their old man.

A deep scowl covered Merle's face. He thought the whole situation was ridiculous. If he knew Lou was going to bring up so many memories, he would have tried to talk the Governor out of giving him babysitting duty. Merle decided to just nudge the kid's leg with his foot and if she didn't wake up he could still say he tried. However, he didn't expect to have to jump a full foot in the air to avoid Lou's knife the second his foot made contact. Merle glared down at the girl who nearly sliced his Achilles tendon.

Lou franticly looked around the room with wide eyes, trying to find the bad men. It wasn't until she looked up at Merle's face that she realized what she almost did and dropped her knife. She quickly ducked her head. She waited for the punishment she thought was sure to come.

Merle cursed at how much her actions were reminding him of Daryl. He was actually considering treating her like Daryl. It would make this entire predicament easier for him to deal with. After a couple seconds of considering that option, Merle decided it would be the best course of action. It was all he knew how to do and the rough treatment, he figured, could scare her away.

"Quit bein' a pussy." Lou snapped her head up to look at Merle. "And wha' the fuck are ya doin' on the damn floor? You a dog or some shit?" Lou's mouth dropped open before she glared at Merle. She stuck her tongue out at him, only to have it forcibly grabbed and pulled. "Don't go stickin' yer tongue out at me unless ya want it gone." She made a distressed sound at the prospect. Merle roughly released her tongue. "Good, now get on the damn couch and go the fuck back ta sleep." She ran for the couch. "And take yer damn shit with ya!" Lou quickly ran back to get her pillow and blanket before running back to the couch. Once she wrapped herself up tight, Merle gave a firm nod. "Now get the fuck ta sleep."

Lou just watched Merle leave the living room, heading down the small hallway in the apartment. She knew there was little possibility her falling back to sleep that night, but there was no way in hell she was moving from that couch until morning. But, the weird thing was, since Merle woke her up, Lou felt a lot calmer than she did when she had her knife at the ready.

When she heard Merle's loud snores come from the back room of the apartment, the little girl began counting them. She let out a large yawn as she did so. She began dozing off in a matter of minutes. There was only one question that ran through her mind as she miraculously fell back to sleep to the sound of Merle snoring. Why did the apartment suddenly so much more comfortable?


	8. New Friends

Author's Note: All I can say is that I'm sorry to all who have been waiting for me to update. I'm not going to make any excuses for not updating or promises to be consistent with it, the chapters come to me as they do, but know I have not given up on my stories. With that in mind, please enjoy.

* * *

Lou scrunched her face as the morning sun shined onto her through the window. Opening her eyes, she glared at the offending light. Still a little more than half asleep, she sat up on the couch and took in her surroundings, realizing that yesterday wasn't just a dream…and that her blanket and pillow were thrown on the floor. Releasing yawn, the little girl listened to the snores still emitting from the back room. She contemplated if it was safe for her to get off the couch yet. The little girl threw caution to the wind when she realized she had to pee.

Getting up with another yawn, Lou needed to find the bathroom. Stalking down the short hallway she checked the doors until she found the one she needed. Closing the door and quickly hopping on the toilet, Lou let out a relieved sigh as her bladder was being emptied. She glanced at the door when she heard the snoring stop. Hearing a door open and close, Lou watched the bathroom door. At the sound of Merles mumbled, almost fully asleep cursing on the other side of the door, the little girl watch the knob turn.

When Merle opened the door, it took his sleep clouded mind a couple seconds to comprehend the small person in his bathroom. The moment realization sparked in Merle's head, he slammed the door shut.

"God damn it, lock the fuckin' door when yer in there! I don't need ta see ya pissin'!" After shouting that, Merle rubbed his face in annoyance and slouched against the wall opposite of the bathroom. He actually forgot about the little girl now living with him. He just woke up and the only thought going through his head was that he needed to take a crap, but apparently that had to wait. Luckily, the sound of the toilet flushing and water running could be heard, and, in less than a minute, Lou emerged from the bathroom and went back into the living room.

She heard the door slam shut after a mumbled "damn kids". With a shrug she was about to sit back on the couch, after putter her blanket and pillow back on it, when there was a knock on the front door. She stopped and just stared at the door, debating on what to do.

"Lou? Merle? Either of you awake yet?" At the sound of the Governor's voice, Lou flinched. She didn't want to let him in, but had a feeling she had to. It would be bad if he found out she was awake and didn't open the door for him. Quickly running to her pile of stuff, she pulled out her notebook and pen, noting that she needed to prioritize the stuff later, and approached the door at a much slower pace. "Lou, if you're there, could you let me in? There's something I need to talk to you and Merle about."

Reluctantly, she opened the door with a forced smile and wrote in her notebook.

_Day 2_

_Good morning._

"Good morning to you to, Lou. Might I ask why it took so long for you to answer the door?" Thinking on her feet, she let out a large yawn and wrote in her notebook again.

_I'm still a little tired._

The Governor looked past Lou into the apartment. Not finding who he was looking for, he turned his attention back to Lou. "Oh, I see. Do you know where Merle is?"

_He's in the bathroom._

"Ah, well then, may I come in?" Lou just stiffly nodded and stepped out of his way. She hoped Merle wasn't going to be mad at her for this. After the Governor was fully in the apartment, Lou shut the door and ran to stand outside the bathroom. Ripping a small piece of paper from her notebook, she wrote that the Governor was there, knocked on the door, and slipped the paper under it. The reply was almost instant.

"God damn it all! I'll be out in a minute." Lou mouth twitched into an almost smile when she heard what he mumbled next. "I swear a man can't even take a shit anymore."

While Lou was informing Merle of the Governor's arrival, the Governor was evaluating the apartment. The sight of the trash and dirty dishes annoyed him beyond belief. Though the apartment was cleaner than he expected, it was, in his mind, too dirty for Lou to be in. And the fact that all her stuff was piled in the corner left him very unhappy. But, in his mind, that just meant that Lou would most likely grow tired of staying with Merle sooner.

He looked up at the sound of a door slamming.

"The hell you doin' standin' there? Move yer ass." The Governor frowned. He wondered if Merle was intentionally trying his patience by how he was acting towards Lou, or if this was all coincidental. Thinking about it, he figured it for the best. The worse Merle was, the sooner Lou will come to him.

At that moment, Lou trotted into the living room, completely at ease, closely followed by Merle.

"Damn it, get out from under my feet b'fore I step on ya!" Remembering how Merle grabbed and pulled her tongue the night before, Lou quickly went to Merle's side. If she's learned one definite fact about Merle in the short time she's known him it was this: Merle did not make threats, he made promises. Merle looked up from Lou and to the Governor, "What do ya need, Governor?"

"Nothing in particular, just wanted to see how you two were doing so far." The Governor looked between the two and saw that Merle looked a lot more tired than Lou, which just reminded him of all the mornings he had with Penny after she had trouble getting to sleep. When the child can't get to sleep, the parents, or guardian in Merle's case, can kiss the prospect goodbye.

"Only been a night, but s'long she don't keep havin' nightmares, and tryin' ta cut me when I wake her up from 'em, we ain't gonna have a problem." Lou looked down in shame, remembering what almost happened. The Governor's eyes widened, not knowing what to think about what he just heard. He didn't know, but should have figured, Lou suffered from nightmares. But the second half of Merle's statement surprised him more than the first.

"She stabbed you?" The Governor stared at the little girl, almost relieved he didn't leave her with anyone else. They would have called her a demon child and asked her to be sent away. He couldn't let that happen. She looked too much like his daughter. She was to be Penny's best friend. He would not let her leave.

"Naw, came damn close though." Merle looked down at the girl and swatted her upside the head. "Get yer damn head up! Ain't nothin' ta cry over, but I'll give ya a reason if ya keep actin' like a lil' bitch." The second her tongue started to peak out, Lou saw Merle's eyes narrow and quickly retracted it. "Yeah, that's what I thought." She did, however, glare and raise her head defiantly.

The two, once again, had a stare off of sorts. As it continued, the Governor got annoyed at being ignored. But, he let it slide, slightly curious of who would give first. The man wasn't surprised when Lou eventually looked away. He wondered if she'd ever hold out, but threw the thought away. It would lead to possibilities he didn't want to consider.

"Anyways, do you two mind staying in here for a while?" At the Governor's question, Merle's head snapped in his direction.

"The hell for?"

"Nothing serious, some of the towns people and I are just preparing a big surprise for Lou. And we wouldn't want her to see it before it's ready, right?" The Governor looked down at Lou with a playful grin. It made the girl uncomfortable. Every time the bad men grinned at her like that, they did painful things to her. Merle didn't know what to feel.

He knew the "surprise" had to be a big welcome party, which made him a little angry at the Governor. The kid, for the first time in years, is reintroduced, in a sense, to society after experiencing constant hell and the Governor thinks it's a good idea to bombard her with people. She obviously isn't comfortable with more than a handful at a time and almost got molested, not even thirty minutes, after arriving. It was stupid, if you asked him. She wasn't predictable yet either, which made him not like the idea more. They knew next to nothing about her but what she told them and let them know. If someone seemed threating to her, it'd be next to impossible to know how she'd react

"You are alright with staying in here for the time being, aren't you Merle?" The threat in the Governor's tone did not go unnoticed by Merle. The burly man knew they really didn't have a choice so he just nodded with a deep scowl. After a couple more minutes of, to Merle and Lou, uncomfortable conversation, the Governor left, telling Merle a time to bring Lou to the center of town.

After the door closed, Merle rubbed his forehead, trying to ease his incoming migraine. Not caring about Lou following at his heals, he tiredly made his away to the kitchenette. The loud clang that resulted from his foot hitting the pot Lou fell off of only made the pain worse. He glared at the offending object.

"Why the hell is that on the floor?" He turned his glare to Lou, catching her flinching out of the corner of his eye. "Well?" She quickly started writing.

_I'm sorry. I was hungry and couldn't reach the cabinet._

_It slipped and I forgot to put it back._

Merle nodded before his frown deepened. "Slipped? From where?"

_The counter. Please don't be mad. I'll pick it up. I_

_didn't eat your food though._

After showing Merle what she wrote, she moved to quickly put the pot away. The man narrowed his eyes before turning them to the dented can of cream corn on the counter. This scene did not sit well with him. As flattering as the undeniable respect for him she had was, he didn't like the fact that she acted like she was expecting to get hit. Merle grunted, "Why didn't ya eat?"

Lou looked up at Merle for a moment before writing.

_You didn't say I could._

Merle stared at those five little words, realizing that watching Lou may not be as easy as he thought. When he was a kid, Daryl would have snuck food, so long as he knew he could, so he'd eat whenever he got hungry enough. But, it appeared Lou wasn't like that. He wondered if it was out of respect for him, or if she was trained to think like that. To only eat what is definitely yours or not until you're told to. Not letting this thoughts show, he scoffed, "If it's here, eat it. Ya don't need my permission for that."

The look of pure amazement Lou sent him was something he wasn't expecting. Her eyes looked bigger than normal, and not from them being opened so wide you could see them darting in every direction as she took in her surroundings. No, they were wide from her looking at Merle as if he was a saint, and he didn't feel comfortable with that.

Unable to take the look anymore, he snatched up the can of cream corn. He needed to do something so he didn't have to look at her. After opening the can, he heated up its contents before dumping it in a bowl and throwing it on the table.

"Just eat." He left the room as quickly as possible, intending on avoiding the kid until they had to leave for the party. But that doesn't mean he missed the look of pure joy on Lou's face as she took her first bite. Kids weren't supposed to be that happy over cream corn, his mind yelled, not even Daryl was. And that was true. During the times Merle was actually there for his brother, the only food that got that type of reaction was the meat lovers pizzas they had every once in a blue moon. Shutting himself away in his room, Merle leaned against the door, similar thoughts running through his head. He realized he may have made the situation out to be lighter than he thought.

It was until, after an unknown amount of time, a slip of paper appeared under his door that Merle's train of thought was broken. He squinted at the words when he read it.

_It's time to go._

Letting out a sigh, Merle opened his door. And there was Lou, stuffed bag over her shoulder, and looking up at him with a rarely blinking gaze. Her expression wasn't as happy as it was earlier, during the whole cream corn thing. It was reverted back to her typical blank expression. That, he could handle. Nodding to her, he led her out of the apartment and the building, not saying a word.

Lou followed Merle through the streets of Woodbury. The little girl looked around confused. She didn't see anyone idling about like yesterday. The closer they got to the center of town, the tenser Lou became. She didn't know where everyone was. The only thing keeping her relatively calm was the fact that Merle was there. However, once they reached their destination, Lou wanted to leave. The second they rounded the final corner of their walk, Lou was bombarded with people and noise.

She didn't know what to do. There were too many people and they were acting in a way she wasn't accustomed to. Merle went over to get a drink, leaving the girl with the Governor when he approached them. After the Governor made a speech she was too distracted to listen to, her discomfort only grew as more people approached her, saying how happy they were that she a part of their community. She was shaking slightly, tensing like a cornered animal. Too much, it was all too much. Her eyes darted around, taking in every detail she could. She needed to leave, to get away from the people. If she didn't, she knew she'd do something, something really bad.

The silently panicking child flinched when the Governor rested a hand of her shoulder.

"Are you enjoying your party," he asked, giving her a wide closed eyed smile. Lou just stared back wide-eyed. She did not respond. Her head snapped in the direction of someone rapidly approaching her, clasping their hands together, and speaking loudly. Lou could hear her heart pounding in her ears, could feel it rabidly beating against her ribcage. The second the person stood to say a few words to the Governor, Lou's eyes began rapidly darting around again, looking for a way to escape. Her entire body was tense, seconds away from darting away like a terrified deer.

She waited for the Governor to get distracted by his conversation, waited for the second no one was paying attention to her. When it came, she bolted. No one saw her flee; no one noticed her absence…no one but Merle.

He watched her run; escaping the suffocating position the Governor forced upon her. The gruff man saw no reason to stop her. He knew it, or something worse, would happen the second the Governor let him in on the party. There wasn't a doubt in his mind the girl ran so she wouldn't lash out, because Daryl would've. Lou acted just like Daryl used to, and sometimes still did, when he was dragged into a situation with so many people he didn't know. Tense up like a startled animal staring down the barrel of a shotgun and then bolt, or lash out. Merle let out a deep breath as he chugged down his drink and leaned against a nearby building. He was really getting tired of all the flashbacks and deep thinking Lou was causing…

After retreating from the celebration, Lou collapsed at the base of a large tree and gasped for air, finally able to calm down. From where she lied, she could still faintly see everyone else talking and having a good time, but wanted nothing to do with it herself. She didn't belong with that.

"Umm excuse me?" Lou attention snapped to the weak voice coming from above. She raised an eyebrow at the small, blond boy hanging from a tree branch by his underwear. "C-can you h-help me down?" After a moment of silence, Lou just shrugged, set her bag on the ground, and began climbing the tree. It was a distraction she currently needed, so she wasn't turning it away. Once she got to the branch the boy was hanging from, she pulled him to sit on it and tried to free his briefs from the wood. "…T-t-thanks…"

Lou looked to the flustered and teary eyed boy for a second before going back to releasing his underwear from the branch. After a minute or two she finally accomplished the task and went to climb back down the tree. "W-wait!" She turned back to the boy. He looked down in shame. "C-can you help me down?"

Lou stared at him for a second before letting out an annoyed sigh. She waved him over and, once he got close enough, grabbed his hands and lowered him to a lower branch, scaring the young boy half to death by the suddenness of her actions. After she did that, she climbed down to the same branch and repeated the process until they got to the lowest branch. The boy looked at her panicked and asked, "W-what now?"

The little girl adjusted her position so she was sitting with her legs dangling off the branch and grabbed the boy's hands again. Using her legs to hold her up, Lou lowered to boy as far as she could, hanging upside-down just to get that little extra distance. Once she had him as close to the ground as possible, Lou let go of the boy's hands. He didn't have time to scream as he fell, but he let out a pained yelp once he hit the dirt. Looking back up to Lou, the boy watched her swing back onto the branch before going to dangle from it by her hands. His mouth dropped open in shock as she let go and dropped to the ground. When she landed, she, unlike the boy, landed unharmed in a crouching position.

"A-are you okay?!" Lou tilted her head at the worried boy before nodding. She didn't understand why he was worried. He's the one that got hurt, not her. The boy let out a relieved sigh. "G-good." It seemed he realized something after a second. "Uh I-I'm K-Keith. Y-you m-must b-be the new girl? W-what's y-your name?"

Lou, not really wanting to pull out her notebook and waste paper, wrote her name in the dirt. Once she was done, she looked back up at the boy. He was small, about an inch taller than her, and scrawny. She noted his thick glasses and that his white, button up was all the way buttoned and tucked into his light brown shorts, but she really didn't care in the long run. The glasses were bad. If he was running from one of the monsters, and they fell off, he was done for, but since his shirt was tucked in there was less of a chance of him getting grabbed. She also took note of his freckles as a distinguishing factor about him, but she realized that wasn't really necessary since he was smaller than all the other boys she happened to see. After thinking about it, she was figured it for the best that she took note of them, now she won't confuse him for one of the girls.

"I-is there s-something on my face?" Snapping back into focus, Lou looked the boy, Keith, in the eyes. She ignored his flinch and tilted her head in confusion. "Y-you w-were staring, s-so I-I want-ted to know if something w-was on my face." After a look of realization covered the girl's face, she shook her head no.

Keith didn't know why he was explaining himself. He thought the girl was really scary, and his mom told him to stay away from her after she saw her following Merle around. But, she helped him out of the tree, and she hadn't teased him…yet. Everyone teased him, even his one friend and his sister. So he figured it was only a matter of time before Lou teased him as well.

"W-why a-aren't you saying a-anything?" Keith couldn't stop the distressed sound from leaving his lips at Lou's unwavering, tense gaze. This was it, he told himself. He figured he was going to get it this time for not keeping his mouth shut. But all Lou did was write in the sand that she can't and waited for the boy's reaction.

After reading what Lou wrote, a look of curiosity took over Keith's face. He looked up at her and, without thinking, asked, "Why?" After the word left his mouth, he clamped his hands over it and clenched his eyes shut, waiting for retribution for his insensitive curiosity. It got him in so much trouble with the other kids. At the feeling of something gently, but firmly, tugging his hair, Keith peaked his eyes open and saw Lou pulling the bandana around her neck down.

He gasped and flinched at the sight of the scar. Without even comprehending what he was doing, he reached out to touch it. But, Lou's sudden and tight grip around his wrist, before he even got close to touching her neck, snapped him back into reality. "S-s-sorry…" Lou let him go and glared at him suspiciously. "…D-does it hurt?"

Lou looked up in thought. The scar didn't hurt, not really. But, she could remember how much it used to hurt. How she cried for what felt like forever because of the pain. But after a long while, the pain died down until it disappeared. However, there are still those rare times, when she wakes up from particularly bad nightmares about her time with the bad men, when white hot flashes of pain take over her entire body, wherever she has a scar, and she can't even breathe because of them. So she just wrote sometimes in the sand.

"O-oh…I'm sorry." Lou narrowed her eyes, not understanding why he apologized. They stood in an awkward silence for a while, until Keith randomly started laughing out of a nervous habit. He had one of those odd laughs, it was kind of pitchy and he did almost a half snort, but Lou didn't mind. It sounded funny to her, but she didn't laugh with him. She just stared with a ghost of a smile on her lips. Keith realized that Lou, though scary, may not have been as mean as she looked.

"Fru-Fru!" At the shout, Keith stopped laughing and Lou raised an eyebrow. Turning slightly, Lou saw a slightly older kid running towards them wearing a blue and pink, floral dress. Her curly black hair was flying everywhere in her haste. Lou stared curiously at the black blanket tied around the girl's neck, flowing behind her as she ran. Once she got to them, she shoved her way between Keith and Lou, glaring down at Lou with her dark brown eye. "State your business with Fru-fru!" Lou just blinked curiously at the odd way the girl spoke.

"C-com-me o-on K-Kelly. B-be nice."

"Silence, and that's Supreme Dark Overlady to you, Fru-Fru! We do not know her! She could be a spy for those wretched vipers! Sent to expose our weaknesses!" Lou did not know how she was supposed to act, not completely following what the other girl was saying. She figured she should be insulted, but was too confused and entertained to bother. And, despite the new arrival's hostility, Lou couldn't find it in herself to feel threatened.

"S-She's th-the new g-girl. I-I don't th-think-k she m-meet any-yone else y-yet." Kelly didn't look convinced, but huffed, seeing Keith's desperate look.

"Fine, I shall offer her the luxury of being my minion. But if she betrays us, it's on you." Lou tilted her head, not quite understanding what was happening. Kelly scoffed at the naïve expression of the younger girl's face. Putting her hands on her hip, and standing as though she was dictator, Kelly looked down at Lou. "I am the Supreme Dark Overlady, Kelly. You shall only refer to me as Supreme Dark Overlady. Under the advisement of Fru-Fru, I hereby extend to you the opportunity to by my minion." The girl stuck her hand out for Lou to shake. "Not many are given such once in a lifetime chance, so it would be wise for you to accept while the offer stands."

Lou just blinked at the hand before looking to Keith. He gave her a hopeless smile. "D-do y-you-u want t-to be f-friends?" Lou blinked in confusion, looking down to stare at the outstretched hand. The true concept of 'friends' was foreign to her. She vaguely remembers a female voice explaining what 'friends' were, but most of it was muffled or muted by the bad men's definition of the word and all they explained being 'friends' entitled. She didn't trust the word, to her it was a very, very bad word. Yet, the two in front of her seemed alright, though a liability. Her thoughts were interrupted.

"I am not offering friendship, Fru-Fru! I am offering minionship!" Lou glanced up at Kelly's annoyed face. She didn't know what 'minionship' was, but it sounded better than 'friendship' to her. With the new, safer term running through her head, Lou firmly clasped her hand with Kelly's. The black haired girl's eyes widened at the grip before she smirked. Pulling away, Kelly demanded, "Now minion, introduce yourself to you Supreme Dark Overlady!"

It was quite for a moment before Keith stuttered, "S-she c-an't-t t-talk…"

Kelly's face scrunched up before she grinned. She waved the almost setback off, "Great! Now I din't have to worry about any back talk! This minion is already better than you, Fru-Fru." Keith could only sigh in misery. He knew Kelly wasn't being mean to be mean. It was just how she was. Lou just blinked before going to pick her bag back up.

"Well, this is unexpected." Lou frowned at the sound of the Governor. Looking up, she, Kelly, and Keith found him, Milton, and Merle staring at them with varying expressions. At the sight of Merle, Keith froze in fear while Lou nodded towards him. "So Lou, care to introduce us to your little friends?" Lou's expression tightened a bit at the word.

Kelly, taking charge, opened her mouth. "I am Kelly, Supreme Dark Overlady. And she," Kelly points to Lou, "is my minion, not my friend." The adults didn't know how to respond to that and looked to Lou in confusion. The smallest child present looked perfectly content with the other child's statement. Milton and the Governor shared a glance. "And this," Kelly points to Keith, "is my Fru-Fru." Merle barked out a laugh while the little boy looked like he was about to cry.

Lou turned to Keith and pointed between him and the three adults, indicating for him to introduce himself properly. Seeing him stare at Merle in fear, she got annoyed and slapped him upside the head, which made the Governor and Milton flinch at the harsh smacking sound it caused. Kelly and Merle smirked at it. "Ow! W-why d-did you d-do that?!" Keith turned to Lou with teary eyes.

Merle sneered at the kid's whining. It just now accrued to him that he may have been fortunate to get stuck with Lou. She couldn't whine and even if she could he doubted she would.

The adults and self-proclaimed overlady watched as Lou pointed between the boy and them while making hand motions, indicating for him to talk. The boy looked completely lost, not getting the hint. Lou rubbed her temples and wrote in the sand again.

_Talk_

"Oh…OH! N-now I get it!" Lou just shook her head in annoyance, asking herself why she hadn't just walked away from the boy. Keith looked back to the adults, but trembled at Merle's sneer. But one harsh look from Lou had him standing straight in front of the adults and holding his hand out for a shake. "I-I' Keith, s-sirs!" The stutter only became more pronounced at the loud volume. Lou groaned in annoyance and rubbed her ears. Kelly shook her head, disappointed that her Fru-Fru could never get over his stuttering problem.

The Governor looked amused. Though he wasn't too pleased Lou chose to befriend a boy, and an annoying girl, he was satisfied she at least made some friends. While Milton wondered how this would work. Kelly was obviously going to be the mouth and mastermind, most likely dragging the other two into a bunch of mischievous antics. She seemed like she needed the control. Keith was the weakest of the three and would follow the other two for protection. It seemed like he didn't care what they did to him, so long as they were there. Lou was just going to be the muscle and either protector, trainer, or ditcher, depending on how the other two could survive.

After that last thought, Milton nearly had a heart attack. He had just unwittingly made parallels between the children and the Governor, him, and Merle. His contemplative look turned worried. God have mercy if those children grew up to be like the three of them, the scientist shuddered at the thought.

The Governor shook the small boy's and girl's hand with his convincing, but fake, smile. He said, "It's a pleasure to properly meet you, Keith, Kelly. As you probably know, I'm the Governor." A sense of cockiness took hold of the Governor at the boy's amazed stare. Kelly kept her mouth shut, knowing she'd get in trouble if she told the town leader to call her Supreme Dark Overlady. Keeping his mouth set in a smile, and suppressing a smirk, the Governor motioned to the other two adults, "This here is Milton. And this man, as I'm sure you also know, is Merle. He's actually Lou's caretaker," for now, the Governor finished in his head.

Looking up at Merle, Keith trembled in fear. In the child's eyes, the man was everything his mother told him to fear. But, thinking about it, so was Lou. Maybe, he thought, Merle was just scary and not mean, like Lou. Looking at the girl, Keith saw her staring at Merle with nothing but respect. Looking back at Merle, Keith flinched at the glare he was sending Lou for her unwavering stare. Nope, he thought, Merle was just plain terrifying all around.

"Well, expect to see me a lot, Merle!" Everyone turned to Kelly. She grinned, "In order to make sure my minion is good enough, I need to personally evaluate her!"

Suspicious, Merle asked, "The hell is that supposed ta mean?"

Having had a daughter, the Governor chuckled, "Sleepovers." Merle's eyes widened in horror. Seeing the expression, Kelly cackled. The tallest girl dragged the other two children to the food table, stating that her "new minion was too tinny!"

The three grown men were left behind by the children. The Governor and Milton tried not to laugh at Merle's new dilemma, but he caught their humor. He growled out, "It's not funny! Wha' do ya think is gonna happen if that brat wakes Lou up from a Nightmare?" The second that question left the redneck's lips, the other two men froze. Suddenly a little girl's sleepover wasn't a laughing matter.


End file.
